A Crown of Roses A Day - A gift of prayer in conjunction with the SFX Golden Jubilee Year

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 22 January 2011)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Last week, we announced about “A Crown of Roses A Day”. Those of you who have been attending this Novena might have guessed what we meant. Yes, it is about the Rosary, which comes from the Latin word rosarium, meaning a garden or garland of roses. Recall what St. Louis de Montfort wrote in The Secret of the Rosary? Every five decades of the Rosary devoutly prayed is a little crown of heavenly roses which we place on the heads of Jesus and Mary. So the complete Rosary is a large crown of roses, which is the gift that we want to give to Jesus and Mary as our Parish Golden Jubilee gift.

For three months last year, we have shared on various aspects of the Rosary. We hope that all would be spurred to pray the Rosary daily. That, is the ultimate goal of proposing “A Crown of Roses A Day”.

Last year, our BECs and several non-parishioners started hand-making and sponsoring rosaries for the poor under the SFX Parish Assembly – May Group 2010 project. They made more than 2500 rosaries and are still counting. And so this year, we would like to invite you to spiritualise our gift to them. How? By praying the Rosary for each and every one of them. On its own, the rosary beads may be meaningless to a hungry stomach, but with prayers attached, it gives some hope of changing the situation. We place their needs in God’s hands. This proposal comes with a firm believe in what the Rosary can do to and for those who pray it faithfully.

Praying the Rosary daily would sanctify our Golden Jubilee Year. This is in line with our Parish Priest, Fr. Simon Yong’s call for a renewal of holiness in this year of grace.

At the same time, we pray for ourselves, our nation and the Church, thus rekindling the Christian hope that we are called to live and bear, especially in today’s climate of despair.

These three main objectives are encapsulated in the 5 special intentions of our prayer, one for each decade of the Rosary.

Let me explain now how we can weave “A Crown of Roses A Day” together. Everyday, at least four persons will pray the Rosary, each a different set of mysteries, to make a complete Rosary of 20 mysteries a day as a parish. We will start on our parish anniversary date, 2 February, and we will pray until every recipient of our rosaries is prayed for.

We hope that you, devotees of our Blessed Mother, would take the lead in this. To participate is simple. Check for empty slots in the roster on the SFX website, or outside the Santa Maria della Strada Chapel. Choose a set of mysteries and a date to pray. Register your name in the empty slots. You may register to pray only once a day, so that the complete crown would be a collective effort. However, you may register to pray for any number of days. You may pray anywhere and anytime of the day.

No reminders will be sent, as it is your own commitment to God, but please do keep your prayer appointments faithfully. You may use the cards available outside the chapel to remind yourselves of your respective slots.

In case of contingency empty slots, we would like to contact pray-ers to fill up the slots and pray them. If you are able to take up a slot at short notice, you may register to be a SOS Prayer Warrior. Leave your name and contact in the box outside the chapel, or register online.

If you happen to notice empty slots about a week before its actual date, we would encourage you to sign up for those slots if you can, so that our gift remains unbroken. You may also encourage others to pray, or initiate groups to pray “A Crown of Roses A Day” and register as a group or BEC. Please do also help those who have no Internet access, sick or elderly or home-bound to register as pray-ers.

More information is available on the SFX website or outside the chapel.

Together, let us realise this spiritual gift. It is a gift for our poor brethren and our gift to Our Lord and Our Lady. Ultimately, may it be a pleasing Parish Golden Jubilee gift to God our Heavenly Father.

Explanation of Prayer Card 2011 – Our Lady of the Way & Mary and the Church

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 8 January 2011)

Explanation of Prayer Card 2011 – Our Lady of the Way

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Last Saturday, on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, we gave out prayer cards as was our custom. This year being our Parish Jubilee Year, we invite you to pray for our Parish by seeking the intercession of Our Lady of the Way. On the prayer card, you will find familiar images of our own Santa Maria della Strada chapel.

Santa Maria della Strada is the Italian for Our Lady of the Street or of the Way. She is the patroness of our Jesuit Pastors, who in these 50 years have given us the spiritual anchor to be Christ’s Body today. Our prayer printed against a backdrop of the Jesuits’ logo and our Parish crest reminds us of this.

Recently, Fr. Simon reminded us that we are a pilgrim people on a journey. Our Lady of the Way is sometimes used to symbolise poverty, the homeless, etc. – those on the road or street. By asking her guidance and prayers, may we be reminded always that we, too, are on the road, journeying to our heavenly home. This journey is symbolised by the card background that gradually lightens upwards.

The words “Our Lady of the Way, lead us to Jesus, The Way” set against a dark background denotes our invocation as sinners in the world, asking for her help.

The picture of Our Lady of the Way bridges us to Jesus Christ, shown as the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle at the upper portion of the card.

As we tread through a world darkened by evil and sin, Our Lady of the Way lights up our path to Jesus, the only Way to the Father, in Whom rests our final destiny.

We hope that the prayer card will remind us to always strive to live as Church in faithfulness to Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Mary and the Church

This leads us into our theme for sharing this year – Mary and the Church. Mary is “of the Way” and not “the Way”, because Jesus is the only Way that will lead us to God our Father. Our devotion to Mary is never an end in itself, but to bring us closer to Jesus. This explains the motto, “To Jesus Through Mary”.

However, devotion to Mary has often drawn scandalous accusations, and doubts and suspicion from the ignorant. This could be partly because we, the devotees, give wrong impressions to others by exaggerated acts of devotion, or are wrongly oriented in our veneration of our Blessed Mother. Understanding more about Mary’s relation to us, the Church, may explain why the Church upholds devotion to Mary since its infancy, and help us adopt the right attitude and render her true devotion according to God’s will.

So who is Mary to the Church?

She is the Mother of God because her Son, Jesus Christ, is fully God and fully man. But Mary is not a goddess. She is fully human as we are. Thus, Mary is a member of the Church. Her salvific influence on us flows from the superabundance of Christ’s merits, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it, as stated in the document Lumen Gentium (LG) (LG, #60). Since we are the Body of Christ, Mary, the Mother of Christ, is also our Mother. The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarised, “she is mother wherever he is Saviour and head of the Mystical Body” (CCC, #973). And so, Mary is the Mother of the Church.

Mary is also the Type, or the figure, of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ (LG, #63), as St. Ambrose taught. The Church looks to her as the model of virtues (LG, #65).

In future sharings, we will see what these roles of Mary mean to us. Hopefully then, our acts of piety and devotion would be more rightly ordered so as to give proper honour to God and Our Lady. Meanwhile, remembering that she is our Mother is enough to justify our devotion to her. As the Type of the Church, she is the perfect example for us. And as Christ’s Mother, she would be the best person to mould us into Christ Himself. That is why, in our Jubilee Year of grace, to live as Church in faithfulness to Christ, we ask Our Lady to lead us to Jesus, the only Way, the supreme Truth and Life itself.

Protestants and the Rosary

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 18 December 2010)

If you were to do a Google search on the Protestants and the Rosary, you would find that for many Protestants, the Rosary captures everything that is wrong with Roman Catholicism – an excessive (and perhaps idolatrous) focus on Mary’s role and mechanical prayers. But is this a fair characterisation? And might it be that the Rosary has something to offer Protestants?

The “Praying to Mary” Objection: Since the Rosary consists largely of “Hail Mary”s, many Protestants see this as one more instance of Catholic Mariology. But Catholics will tell you that these are not prayers to Mary in the sense that one would pray to God the Father or to Jesus, but are requests asking for Mary’s intercession. There seems to be no good argument that it is wrong in principle to ask for the prayers of the Mother of God, if we allow, as we surely must, that it is alright to ask for the prayers of other living Christians and that death does not severe us from the Communion of the Saints.

The “Vain Repetition” Objection: Do the Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s of the Rosary constitute “vain repetition” as condemned in the Bible? Well, most Protestants pray the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) as well as other pre-written prayers (the Psalms, etc.) so the objection cannot be to written prayers per se. Moreover, it seems that what Jesus is condemning in, e.g. Matthew 6:7 is a kind of prayer that seeks to cajole the deity into doing what you want by means of repetition. By contrast, the Rosary is intended to be a prayer wherein one meditates on the Mysteries of Christ’s life. The movement of the fingers and the lips are supposed to help avoid distractions and allow the mind and spirit to enter into a deeper contemplative state. This is not to say that the Rosary cannot become a mechanical or self-centered prayer, but so can any other prayer, including the ones we come up with ourselves.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the Rosary among the Anglicans, the Episcolians, Methodists and the Lutherans. Known as the Christian Prayer Beads, it is not used as a form of intercession but as an aid to prayer.

An Anglican theologian and preacher, Austin Farrer, describe his own change of heart about the Rosary. He says that “If I had been asked two dozen years ago for an example of what Christ forbade when he said ’Use not vain repetitions,’ I should very likely have referred to the fingering of beads. But now if I wished to name a special sort of private devotion most likely to be of general profit, prayer on the beads is what I should name. Since my previous opinion was based on ignorance and my present opinion is based on experience, I am not ashamed of changing my mind.”

When all has been said about it, what the Rosary prayer does is to draw us to Jesus, and to help answer our prayer that we may see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly, every day that we are given of this life on earth.

The Rosary as a Path to Holiness

(Sharing during Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 4 December 2010)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Recently, I was advised against promoting the Rosary as a path to holiness, as it may put off the young. Holiness, it seems, is no longer an ideal. However, in this penultimate sharing in our Rosary series, there is no escape, for it is the title itself. Indeed, as Christians, holiness is certainly our “business”. Mother Teresa once told a journalist that holiness is not a choice, but a necessity.

In the Bible, God often commanded the Israelites to be holy, for He, their God, is holy. Jesus also taught, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that all are called to holiness. Impossible for us weak human beings? But as a priest said, if we cannot be holy, then Jesus’ coming and dying on the Cross would have been in vain. We can be trained to be holy.

Genuine training in holiness, said Pope John Paul II, involves contemplating the Christian mystery (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 2001) and the Rosary is a most effective way towards it. (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002, 5). Throughout the centuries, countless Popes and Saints had strongly encouraged the Rosary devotion. They themselves being its ardent devotees, became the proof of its efficacy in leading one to holiness.

How does the Rosary effect this? Blessed Bartolo Longo equated it with two friends frequently in each other's company tending to develop similar habits (RVM, 2002, 15). So from frequent meditation on the Mysteries, as Pope Pius XII wrote, the soul gradually and unnoticeably absorbs the virtues they contain, and is wondrously inspired with a longing for things immortal. It becomes strongly and easily moved to follow the way which Christ and His Mother have followed. (Ingruentium Malorum, 1951, 9) Thus the Rosary helps us in answering our Christian calling to be conformed to Christ. Many people have testified being healed of addictions, or inexplicably filled with a thirst for the knowledge of God after praying the Rosary.

But the best tool is useless unless correctly used. So how to pray the Rosary correctly and effectively? You have heard them in our previous sharings.

Foremost, the secret is in the contemplation, without which the Rosary would be like a body without a soul. We should not recite the Rosary prayers unthinkingly and mechanically, but we must contemplate and meditate on the mysteries of the life of our Lord with His Mother. To counter distractions, we can use pictures and images from leaflets, booklets, the Internet, and even statues. Looking at the scenes of the mysteries meditated on helps a lot. Remember our sharing on the Ignatian way of praying the Rosary? For our sights, God will give us insight. We can take a step further and imagine that we are in the scenes. Picture Jesus and Mary looking at us and talking to us. Rosary leaflets and books are sold at bookstands outside the church. On the Internet, meditations and images to help in praying the Rosary abound. Just google “Praying the Rosary”. To ensure more trustworthy content, you may use the Catholic search engine, Cathoogle. Other means to consider are using beads to pray, praying before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and joining in public Rosary prayers in the church. At our parish, we pray the Rosary every Saturday at 5.20 p.m. Since it is only once a week, we pray the mysteries in a monthly cycle following Jesus’ life cycle, i.e. His birth, public ministry, passion and death, and Resurrection.

Lack of time? Well, we can pray the Rosary anywhere, anytime. If really hard-pressed, we can pray while waiting, walking, driving (as long as we can remain careful), washing, etc. Ultimately, it is making a point to pray. Mother Teresa said, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.” The Devil increases attacks on those who start praying, but perseverance is the key. Our Lady’s 15 promises may encourage us.

At our recent Parish Assembly, our Parish Pastor, Fr. Simon, has outlined the way for us in entering our Jubilee Year, i.e. towards a renewal of holiness. The Rosary is simple and efficacious towards this end, so why not put to use this precious tool given to us? Trustingly with our Mother, let us “learn” Christ and conform to Him more and more.  

Pray the Rosary, Pray the Gospel

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 20 November 2010)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We, Catholics, are often accused of not reading the Bible. This may be true, but, as a remark I came across the Internet says, we pray the Bible. How so? By praying the Rosary.

Do you know that in the Rosary prayer, we have a very handy “compendium of the entire Gospel”, as traditionally phrased by Pope Pius XII? The Rosary is biblical because its mysteries are drawn from the New Testament. In the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, Pope Paul VI described it as “a Gospel prayer, centred on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation…”. And so, although the Rosary may seem to be more Marian in character, at heart it is actually Christ-centred. Pope Paul VI wrote: “…the succession of Hail Mary's constitutes the warp on which is woven the contemplation of the mysteries. The Jesus that each Hail Mary recalls is the same Jesus whom the succession of the mysteries proposes to us-now as the Son of God, now as the Son of the Virgin…”.

To illustrate, let us now see the Gospel in the Rosary mysteries.

The Joyful Mysteries present the joyous and decisive moment of our Redemption in the Annunciation and Mary’s “yes” to God’s mission for her. We travel with Mary to visit her cousin Elizabeth, where she imparted the Holy Spirit to St. John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus Christ, while still in his mother’s womb. We hear Mary praising God for fulfilling His promises in the Magnificat. Further on unfold the mysteries of Jesus’ virginal birth, His infancy and His childhood.

The Luminuous Mysteries bring us into the public life of Jesus – His Baptism in the Jordan at the start of His ministry; the first manisfestation of His glory at the wedding at Cana; His proclamation of the Kingdom of God by His teaching, preaching, calls to conversion and healing; His Transfiguration where God reveals the glory to be given to Him; and His institution of the Eucharist by which He made Himself present to us for all time to come.

The Sorrowful Mysteries remind us of Jesus’ humble submission to the Father’s will even while in agony in the Garden of Getshsemane; the horrendous torture, pain and humiliation that He went through in His scourging at the pillar, His crowning with thorns, His carrying of the Cross and finally His death on the Cross – all for the sake of saving us.

The Glorious Mysteries proclaim the triumphant victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death by His resurrection. He was raised to His rightful place at the right hand of the Father at His Ascension. We then see the Church born in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by its prayers as a family together with Mary (JPII, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #23, 2002), the Mother of the Church. We are reminded of the glorious end we are destined for in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. The last mystery presents Mary as Queen of the Angels and Saints (JPII, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #23, 2002), shining forth in the glory bestowed by the Father for her faithful and perfect discipleship. We are thus assured of her powerful intercession for us as we journey towards our heavenly home. The last two mysteries, although not explicitly written in the Bible, flowed from the faith of the Church based on revelations of the truths in the Bible.

There you have the entire Gospel presented in the Rosary. Indeed, a complete Rosary is the entire 20 mysteries. Brother John M. Samaha wrote on the Mary Page website: (quote)

“To know how to pray the twenty mysteries of the rosary means that we know the basics about the life of Jesus and his teachings – his life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension; the meaning of Jesus’ Incarnation and Redemption.  This challenges us to ponder what these mysteries mean for us today. In reality the rosary is a compendium of the Gospel; it is the Gospel strung on beads.” (unquote)

And so, the Gospel can be easily prayed anywhere, anytime (as long as not interfering with our duties), and by anyone, even the illiterate. We don’t even have to carry the Bible with us! And we can be sure that we would be pleasing God, since the Gospel is the very Word of God. So let us pray the Rosary, and we’ll be praying the Gospel – in a simple way, and in union with Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother.

Hail Holy Queen

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 6 November 2010)

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, I will share with you on the Hail Holy Queen prayer.  There are 4 ancient Marian antiphons which expresses the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are prayed daily, each in different liturgical seasons of the year as part of the Liturgy of the Hours. Of the four, the Hail Holy Queen is considered the most popular and oldest form of prayer directed to Mary; second only to the Hail Mary in popularity. It is also recited at the end of the Rosary.

History and Background

The Hail Holy Queen originally appeared in the Latin form “Salve Regina”.

The earliest known manuscript was found at Richenau in Southern Germany, latest early 11^th Century. This antiphon is now generally ascribed to Blessed Hermann Contractus the Cripple who lived from 1013 until 1054.  He was born with a badly deformed body from two noble families. He could not move without assistance and suffered for all 41 years of his life. He also had a speech defect. He managed to read and write with the greatest difficulty; but he was highly gifted intellectually. He became a Benedictine monk in 1043 after his parents took him to stay at the monastery  at Richenau when he was just 7. Hermann was a chronicler, mathematician, astronomer, poet and creator of the “Salve Regina” and the other Marian antiphons and hymns and excelled brilliantly in theology, mathematics, astronomy, music, Latin, Greek and Arabic. He was a model of self-acceptance and reaching-out love. (http://nyssa.cecs.scranton.edu/salve.html)

By 1135 AD, it was used as a processional chant at Cluny. The Hail Holy Queen was used as a solemn anthem for the Magnificat on the feasts of the Purification, Anunciation and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was also the anthem for the Benedictus at Lauds (Morning Prayer) of the Assumption. (http://nyssa.cecs.scranton.edu/salve.html) In 1218, the Cistercians adopted it as a daily processional chant and sang the Hail Holy Queen after Compline (Night prayers) since 1251.  In 1221, the Dominicans started and propagated the use of the Anthem at Night prayers. The Franciscans also started using it. The Carmelites had used it after every hour of the Office in place of the last Gospel at Mass.  The Carthusians sing it daily at Vespers. Pope Gregory IX ordered it to be chanted after Compline (Night prayer) on Fridays. From the 14^th Century down to today it has been a part of Compline for the Latin Rite, to which we belong. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly recite this prayer. (http://www.secondexodus.com/html/prayers/salveregina.htm, http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/BVM/SalveRegina.html)

While the antiphon figured largely in liturgical and in general popular Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors; for instance it was recorded that Columbus’ men sang the “Salve Regina” the evening before they sighted the New World the next morning. (http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/BVM/salve regina.html It was also popular at medieval universities as an evening song and frequently used for devotions in the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (Kris Sommers, The Mary Page: http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/antiph4.html, downloaded on 25 Aug 2009)

In part 1 of his famous treatise on the “Glories of Mary”, St. Alphonsus de Liguouri explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the “Gate of Heaven” (Wikipedia, downloaded 5 Mar 2010)

Several Protestant reformers objected strongly to the Salve and to the title Queen of Heaven. (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Salve  Regina.html) complaining that the anthem was too extravagant in claiming Mary’s place in salvation history. (Kris Sommers, The Mary Page: http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/antiph4.html, downloaded on 25 Aug 2009). Luther objected especially to the words “Queen of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope” (Sable, 26 April 2009)

As time passed, the hymn became a symbol of Tridentine Mariology and Catholic Reformation devotion. The hymn was defended, “sung with a loud voice” and inserted in older manuscripts. (http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/antiph4.html) It was prayed every Saturday by members of the Sodality of Our Lady, a Jesuit Marian congregation. (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Queen_of_Heaven) Peter Canisius (d. 1597) countered the oppositions by writing that when we turn to Mary in song, we praise God in her, namely, that the work He has done in her. (Kris Sommers,  25 Aug 2009/The Mary page: http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/antiph4.html))

Mary as our Queen and Advocate

This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Anunciation. Taken up to Heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office. The Blessed Virgin Mary is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate/Helper/Benefactress and Mediatrix (CCC 969/LG)

This is the meaning of the “Salve Regina”. It is our belief that she has been drawn to Heaven but does not forget those who still journey on this earth. She can assist us only because God so wills it. 

When praying/chanting the “Hail Holy Queen”, we are asking Mary to intercede for us in all our needs. No one’s life is perfect or always happy.  We are all searching for peace.  The phrase “banished children of Eve” refers to this fact. Mary was a real person who understands all our problems. There are times in our lives when we are afflicted with disappointments, heartbreaks and illnesses. These are known as “the valley of tears”.

She is our most gracious Mother. Because we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, we become Mary’s children too.  He gave her to you and me when He was on the cross (John 19:26-27) Like a good mother, she longs to protect and rescue us, her children.  She is always kind and loving even when we feel like we do not deserve it, that is why we pray “turn thine eyes of mercy towards us”. We can confidently refer to her as Queen because of her relationship with her Son Jesus, who is Christ the King.

This beautiful prayer will give us all confidence to turn to Mary in all our daily struggles and know that we have someone bringing our worries to God on our behalf. We will truly learn to let go and find peace in our lives.

(http://www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/hail-holy-queen-prayer.html)

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!