The Hail Mary Prayer

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 30 October 2010)

Last week we heard about Glorifying the Blessed Trinity, and this week as we continue on the theme of the Rosary, I shall share on the Hail Mary Prayer.

I believe all of us here, however young or old we may be, pray the rosary, be it all 4 mysteries, one mystery, one decade, 3 Hail Mary’s or even one Hail Mary.

However, the question that perhaps we should ask ourselves are :

1)    Do we pray the rosary and the Hail Mary meaningfully?

2)    Do we contemplate on the Hail Mary as we pray or do we merely say it while our heart and mind wander thinking about other matters ?

3)    Do we truly understand the Hail Mary prayer when we pray it?

As such, today my sharing is divided into 2 main aspects:

1)    A brief  history of the Hail Mary prayer

2)    The meaning of the Hail Mary Prayer.

Some of us may be familiar with the tradition that goes back many centuries and which has been accepted in the writings of many Popes, as to the connection of St. Dominic with the beginnings of the Rosary devotion. 

According to tradition, Mary appeared to St. Dominic during the Albigensian heresy which ravaged Christendom, and told him to use her Psalter in conjunction with his preaching of the mysteries of our salvation, as an instrument in combatting the great heresy of his day during the 13th century.

We have to keep in mind that over the centuries there has been a considerable evolution in the form that this devotion called the Rosary has taken. We have to remember that in the time of St. Dominic, the HAIL MARY did not exist as we pray it today. Only the first half of it was then used. The word JESUS was not added until the 14th century, and the second half of the prayer came later still. 


Some of us perhaps when asked about why Catholics pray the Hail Mary, would have explained that it was a prayer in which we ask the mother of Jesus to pray for us. Since Mary is so close to her Son in heaven, she serves as an ideal intercessor whose prayers bring us closer to Jesus. 

While this is true, today I would like to share the approach Pope John Paul II took when explaining the Hail Mary in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (RVM). For Pope John Paul II, the Hail Mary is not just an intercessory prayer that is permissible for Christians to recite. It's actually a Christ-centered prayer that gives Jesus great praise.He explains the Hail Mary prayer in 4 main aspects :

1^st aspect:  Put Yourself in Gabriel's Shoes

First, Pope John Paul II explains that although the Hail Mary is addressed to Our Lady, "it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed" (RVM, no. 26). When expounding on this prayer, he divides the Hail Mary into two halves. The words from the first half of the Hail Mary express "the wonder of heaven and earth" over the mystery of Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary (RVM, no. 33).

So what does he means about "the wonder of heaven and earth" in the Hail Mary?  The first line -- "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" -- is drawn right from the angel Gabriel's words to Our Lady in the Annunciation (Lk. 1:28). To fully appreciate the meaning of this opening line in the Hail Mary, imagine what these words originally meant to the Archangel Gabriel. Gabriel is an angel who existed long before Mary did. In fact, Gabriel was there when God first created the world. From the beginning of his existence, Gabriel has been worshipping, adoring, and loving the infinite, almighty God, the Creator: the Blessed Trinity.

In awe over that profound mystery of his eternal God becoming a little embryo in Mary's womb, Gabriel greets Mary saying, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk. 1:28). In joyful wonder, Gabriel recognizes this, and his words give praise to God for becoming man in her.

The 2^nd aspect :Joining Heaven and Earth

Similarly, Elizabeth greets Mary with great honor. The biblical account of the Visitation tells us that Elizabeth was "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Lk. 1:41), which indicates that she was given prophetic insight. Before Mary has a chance to say anything about her own pregnancy, Elizabeth already knows. And she knows Mary is pregnant not with any ordinary child, but with the Lord Himself. In wonder over this mystery of God becoming man in Mary, Elizabeth exclaims, "blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" Like Gabriel, Elizabeth's words give praise to God for the Incarnation.

The 3^rd aspect : God's Own Wonderment

Since these words of Gabriel and Elizabeth are from the inspired Word of God in Scripture, they also represent God's own response to the mystery of the Christ. Hence, whenever we repeat these words in the Hail Mary, we participate in God's joy over the Incarnation. As Pope John Paul II explains, "These words could be said to give us a glimpse of God's own wonderment as he contemplates his ‘masterpiece' -- the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. . . . The repetition of the Hail Mary gives us a share in God's own wonder and pleasure.

The second half of the Hail Mary also is focused on Jesus. Here, we entrust our lives to Mary's intercession, asking her to "pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death."

As a 1^st model disciple of Christ, who said "yes" to God's will all throughout her life -- from the time when Gabriel first appeared to her all the way to the Cross -- Mary is the ideal person to be interceding for us through the many trials and struggles we face in our lives. We ask her to pray for us, so that we may follow God faithfully like she did. As the CCC teaches, "She prays for us as she prayed for herself: ‘let it be to me according to your word.' by entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: ‘Thy will be done'" (no. 2677).

The 4th aspect :The Language of Love

Finally, we see just how Christ-centered the Hail Mary is when we come to what Pope John Paul II calls "the hinge" of this prayer: the holy name of Jesus. Not only is the name of Jesus the hinge that binds the two halves together, but it is truly meant to be the "center of gravity" of the entire Hail Mary.

This should encourage us to examine how we pray the Hail Mary: Is Jesus' name truly "the center of gravity" of our prayer? Do we treat the name of Jesus with extra care and speak His name with love when we recite the Hail Mary?

Pope John Paul II notes how emphasis should be given to the name of Jesus in this prayer. However, if we pray the Hail Mary too quickly, we may not give the proper reverence and loving attention to Jesus' name that we should. "Sometimes, in hurried recitation, this centre of gravity can be overlooked" (RVM, no. 33)

Another analogy might be taken from the language of love. Like a lover tenderly speaking the name of one's beloved, we should speak the name of Jesus in this prayer. With each Hail Mary, we should affectionately repeat the name of our Bridegroom -- "blessed is the fruit of thy womb . . . Jesus" -- so that the holy name of Jesus, spoken with tender love, truly becomes the heartbeat of every Hail Mary we pray.

So dear friends, do you realize that every time you recite the Hail Mary, you are repeating these words of Gabriel and Elizabeth? And in doing so, you enter into the ecstatic joy of "heaven and earth" over the mystery of Christ: heaven, represented by Gabriel, and earth, represented by Elizabeth. Both come together to praise God for becoming man in Jesus Christ, the child conceived in Mary's womb. And we join in that praise of God every time we pray the Hail Mary. Indeed, the Hail Mary is truly a Christ-centered prayer!