The Hail Mary


© Copyright 2002 Grace D. MacKinnon

Grace MacKinnon is a syndicated columnist and public speaker on Catholic doctrine. Readers are welcome to submit questions about the Catholic faith to: Grace MacKinnon, 1234 Russell Drive #103, Brownsville, Texas 78520. Questions also may be sent by e-mail to: grace@deargrace.com. You may visit Grace online at www.DearGrace.com.



The Hail Mary or “Ave Maria” (in Latin) is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and familiar prayers of the Universal Church. Though many Christians do not realize this, the Hail Mary is very much rooted in Scripture. Let me say first that prayer is, by definition, a call, cry, plea, or petition made to God. It does not necessarily have to be found explicitly in the Bible. Prayer is always a dialogue with God, and many of our most treasured prayers, including the Hail Mary, are assuredly inspired by or find their basis in Scripture.

The words of the Hail Mary are as follows: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” As may be easily recognized, the prayer can be said to have two parts, the first being a salutation, or greeting, and the second a petition, an earnest or urgent request.

Who was it that greeted Mary by saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee?” It was not a pope, a bishop, or church leader; it was the archangel Gabriel, the one who “stands before God” (Luke 1:19). Luke tells us the splendid and wondrous story of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38). Although translations may vary, there can be no doubt that this first statement of greeting in the Hail Mary comes to us from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:19). Gabriel said these words, and he was a messenger sent directly from God. Thus, it is uncomplicated to see how the early Christians would adopt these beautiful words by the angel as soon as devotion to Mary sprang forth in the Church.

The second part of the greeting also comes from Scripture. Let us recall the words of Elizabeth when Mary visited her. When she heard Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luke 1:42). The Christians later added the name of Jesus in order to identify more exactly that He was the “fruit of Mary’s womb.” Thus, it is evident that the first half of the Hail Mary is taken directly from words found in the Bible, words spoken by the angel of the Lord and by Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, who also was chosen by God to give birth to John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for the Savior.

Something else in the account of the Visitation leads us into the second half of the Hail Mary, which we said is a petition. The first thing we notice, though, is that this part begins by declaring Mary to be holy. Again, we see in Luke’s Gospel that the Blessed Virgin says this about herself in her Canticle or “Magnificat” – “from now on will all ages call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). The word “blessed” and “holy” have the same meaning.

Very interesting also in Luke’s narrative is that he recounts Elizabeth as saying, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me… blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (Luke 1:45). The Greek word for Lord is “Kyrios” and this word is used many times in the New Testament to refer to God the Father (Luke 1:6; Luke 1:9; Luke 1:11). There is substantial evidence, therefore, that the believers in Christ came to recognize Mary as the Mother of God. The Church, at the Council of Ephesus, later declared this officially in 431 AD.

Finally, we come to the very last part, “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Wanting to make the Hail Mary truly a prayer, a petition was eventually added, and thus it appeared in its completed form by the mid-sixteenth century. The Hail Mary is without question a very biblically rooted prayer, a salutation and petition to the Blessed Virgin from whom the Redeemer of mankind was born. It is a prayer for all Christians.

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