Catholic Prayer - the "Hail Mary" 101 - understanding and enjoyment in the 21st Century

Julie South [00:00:00]:
Welcome to your Catholic corner. I'm your show host, Julie South. This Catholic prayer series is designed to help you understand the sacred prayers said inside a Catholic Mass service. If you're a cradle Catholic, your may find yourself reciting each prayer by rote. Just like the times table or the periodic table, your can do it in your sleep. You almost don't even need to think out each word. You're on automatic pilot. If you're new to the faith, either your recently confirmed or you're exploring what this faith thing called Catholicism is, then you probably aren't at the automatic pilot stage of prayer recitation at mass yet.

Julie South [00:00:44]:
Depending on where you are in your faith journey and relationship with the Holy Spirit, catholic prayers may still be a foreign language to you. You have no idea as to their why inside the Mass or even your heart. Today let's look at the Hail Mary prayer, its origin story, its purpose, and how it can be relevant today in the 21st century. We'll start with the prayers itself, so you know what I'm talking about. You may recognize the words, but not realize what it is. Then we'll look at its context and origin story, we'll break it down, unpack it so that you can see what it's really saying, and then we'll look at its relevance today, some 2000 years after it was first penned or chiseled into stone. But before that, a quick word about your Catholic corner, just in case this is your first time here. Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you've only just heard of that man called Jesus, you're new to Catholicism or you're a cradle Catholic.

Julie South [00:01:51]:
My prayer is that your Catholic corner will help bring God's word to life in your heart through insights, reflections and practical applications that help deepen your relationship with God. Every Thursday we'll start preparing for Mass by uncovering the richness hidden in each Sunday's Bible readings from Old Testament prophecies to gospel parables. I invite you to join me and the parishioners of the cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand, sponsors of your Catholic corner, so that together we can hear God's word and echo. Samuel. Speak Lord. Your servant is listening. Now let's get back to today's show. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Julie South [00:02:50]:
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. The Hail Mary is a traditional Catholic prayer that has its roots in the Bible and has been widely used for centuries. It's a prayer of invocation and intercession to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ. It consists of two parts. The first part is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke, chapter One, verse 28, and consists of the words spoken by the angel Gabriel when he visited Mary to announce that she had conceive and bear a son, Jesus. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Julie South [00:03:52]:
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. The second part of the prayer is a petition for Mary's intercession, and it was added later in the history of the prayer. It's believed to have been influenced by popular devotion and piety towards Mary. It goes, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. The Hail Mary is an essential part of the Rosary, which is a very Catholic prayer that's a bit like a chant, as it involves repetitions while meditating or praying on the life of Jesus. Although the Rosary has a prescribed way of being prayed, many people just repeat the Hail Mary part of this prayer over and over. The full rosary consists of the repetition of the Your Father Prayer.

Julie South [00:04:49]:
You may know that as the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary and the glory be. The Hail Mary prayer origins can be traced back to the early Christian traditions where devotion to Mary began to develop. Now, it's important to emphasize something really important here when it comes to Mary and Catholics, because there's a lot of misinformation around. The myth or misinformation is that Catholics are devoted to Mary, that's untrue Catholic are devoted only to God the Father, to Jesus the Son, to the Holy Spirit, the three persons in one. However Catholics do. Venerate. Mary US. Catholics, along with the Orthodox Christians and some older Protestant groups, hold a deep respect and honor for the Blessed Mother, for Mary, but we don't worship her.

Julie South [00:05:45]:
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which contains the official summary of the teachings of the Catholic Church, worship, or adoration, is reserved exclusively for God. Mary is venerated because she's considered to be filled with God's own life, love and grace. As stated in Luke in chapter one, Verse 28, mary's significance lies in her acceptance of God's will and her role in bringing Jesus Christ, the Savior of humanity, into the world. It's really important to understand that veneration, which is a form of honor and respect, is distinct from worship. Worship or adoration, the Latin is latria is solely offered to God. Veneration is directed towards Mary and the saints. However, Mary has the highest form of veneration because of her unique and extraordinary role in the salvation of humanity, which is called hyperdulia. Hyper, in simple terms, means more.

Julie South [00:06:53]:
Therefore, Mary has a higher level, a more level? A higher level, a level exceeding the other saints. These ordinary saints are venerated with a form of honor known as Julie. Therefore, while we Catholic hold Mary in high form of esteem and venerate her, our worship, adoration and devotion are reserved for God alone. Righty? So now that we've got that out of the way, let's return to the history and the origins of the beautiful Hail Mary Prayer. It starts off with the angelic Salutation, which is rooted in the biblical account of the Annunciation, which is found in the Gospel of Luke, which is Luke, chapter One, verse 28. That's where the angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced that God had chosen her to conceive and bear his son Jesus. According to St. Luke, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to the town of Nazareth in Galilee to a young woman named Mary, who was betrothed to Mary a man named Joseph.

Julie South [00:08:02]:
The angel greeted Mary with the words Hail favored one, the Lord is with you. Gabriel proceeded to tell Mary that she had found favor with God and that she'd conceive in her womb and bear a son whom she was to name Jesus. Gabrielle further explained that this child would be the Son of God and that his kingdom will have no end. As an aside, have you ever wondered how Mary must have felt? Imagine if that was you. It would be an amazingly unreal experience, I think, wouldn't it? Over time, the prayers evolved and gained popularity as a way for Catholics to seek Mary's intercession and to ask for her prayers. If you're brand new to the faith or exploring, intercession refers to the act of praying to God on behalf of others. When you're seeking God's assistance, grace or blessings for them. It involves asking someone, usually a saint or the Virgin Mary, to intercede or to intervene with God on behalf of the person making the request.

Julie South [00:09:18]:
The concept of intercession is based on the belief in the unity and the interconnectedness of the mystical Body of Christ. It's where the prayers and actions of one member benefit others. When we seek the intercession of saints, for example, Mary, we Catholics believe we're accessing the spiritual support and prayers of these holy individuals like Mary, who are already in the presence of God. Intercession is an integral part of our spiritual and devotional Catholic life and near back to the Hail Mary, which is usually primarily associated with Catholicism. It's also used in some other Christian traditions, such as Anglicanism and Ethan orthodoxy, although usually with some variations. That's some of the history of the How Mary. Now let's briefly look at the why as well as hearing the term Hail Mary in a derogatory manner. Before I started my Catholic exploration and the RCIA program, it was usually as a way of doing penance.

Julie South [00:10:43]:
Catholics had to say ten hal Marys as a way to get them out of spiritual jail. Now I know it's nothing like that at all. My first real experience of the Hail Mary prayers was through my in laws. When Alan, my husband, and I would visit his parents after dinner, a round of Hail Mary was prayed. A round meaning a decade of rosary beads, ten rounds. If my memory serves me correctly, it was always Erina, my mother in law, who led the prayers. She would be the one who said the first half and the first bit is hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Julie South [00:11:26]:
And then my father in law husband and I would say the second half as a group, as a combined group together. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. We'd repeat this ten times like a chant. When the family got together in full with Alan's sisters, then his sisters would pick up from their mum in leading each decade. Those are my first experiences beyond being shown how to do it as part of my RCIA. Catholics keep track of where they're up to in the prayer through the use of rosary beads, which is a string of five, lots of ten beads separated by three beads with a crucifix at one end. You may have seen rosary beads hanging from rear vision mirrors.

Julie South [00:12:16]:
In some cars they're known as pairs. I carry a pair of rosary beads in my handbag. My husband's beads have been handed down to him. His grandfather had them through the war. They were handed to his son. So my husband's father and now my husband has them. One of the decades has eleven beads in it, not ten. It's definitely a very unique pair of beads of rosary beads.

Julie South [00:12:47]:
Back to why Catholics pray south the hair Mary for a number of reasons, and these can include as a way to honor the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We want to acknowledge Mary's role in salvation history and recognize her as blessed among women when we're seeking intercession. Remember I said earlier that we Catholics believe in the communion of saints. Mary is a saint. This means we believe that the faithful in heaven can intercede for those of us on earth. When we pray the Hail Mary. We're seeking Mary's. Intercession.

Julie South [00:13:24]:
We're asking her to pray for us and to bring our intentions and needs before God. When we want to meditate on the mysteries. Because the mysteries of God because the Hail Mary is an integral part of the rosary when reciting it, we can use that time to meditate on the various mysteries of the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, and because of its biblical foundation. As I said earlier, the first part of the Hail Mary is taken directly from the Bible, specifically from the account of the annunciation in the Gospel of Luke. Luke. Chapter one, verse 28. We Catholics see the Hail Mary as rooted in scripture and see it as a way for us to reflect on the words of the angel Gabriel and the greeting of Mary's cousin Elizabeth to Mary. Although this prayer has an important place in Catholic life, we're not worshipping Mary.

Julie South [00:14:21]:
We Catholics believe that Mary's, not divine like God is, but a beloved figure who can intercede on our behalf. We're asking Mary to assist us on our own spiritual journey. Now, with all of this background and hopefully greater appreciation and understanding for what the Hail Mary prayer is, what difference does it or can it make to our lives today? How can Angel The, angel Gabriel and a woman called Mary, what difference can they make to us in our 21st century living? Let's have a look through connection to tradition. The Hail Mary has a rich history and is deeply rooted in Catholic tradition. This prayer, like all Catholic prayers, is hundreds of years old.

If you're looking for a sense of continuity with the past and to be able to strengthen the bond of faith with fellow Catholics throughout history, then praying the Hail Mary is one reason, one way you can do this. If you're looking for a way to reflect spiritually and meditatively because of the repetition in praying the Rosary, saying those two halves over and over, you can use it as a way to contemplate the life, the teachings and the mysteries of Jesus while seeking Mary's intercession. When you become mindful and focus on the words over and over, if you let yourself, you feel peace, focus, and a deeper connection with God.

Julie South [00:16:09]:
As I mentioned intercession and support earlier, if you want to ask Mary to intercede for you in heaven, then praying the Hail Mary is one powerful way to do that. During those hard times of need, distress and or uncertainty, the invoking Mary's intercession through the Hail Mary can help bring comfort, strength, and a sense of being accompanied by her during times when you need God's extra support. And maybe if you're alone on your spiritual journey, if no one else in your family believes or wants to believe, the knowing that there are millions of people around the world, praying the Hail Mary can give you a sense of unity and community. The Hail Mary is a popular prayers among Catholics worldwide. If you want to pray it with others, get in touch with your local parish and find out if they have a Rosary prayer group. Or you can go online at the rosary online and join in there. I'll put a link to that resource in the Show Notes page for this episode so that you can click on it wherever you're listening to this right now. As you can hopefully see, the Hail Mary remains relevant today as a prayer, offering spiritual reflection, connection to tradition, support through intercession, and a deepened relationship with Mary.

Julie South [00:17:38]:
Praying it can also provide solace, guidance, and a sense of belonging within the Catholic faith community. Back when I was doing my RCIA, one of the things I started to appreciate, which I was spiritually ignorant of before, back when I was living in the dark, was the longevity and the steadfastness of the Catholic faith. There are tens of thousands of Christian denominations in the world, but the Catholic Church is the one and only constant after I was confirmed, I suddenly felt like I was standing on solid ground. It wasn't that I thought I was standing on wobbly ground before my confirmation, but after I noticed the difference. And for me, it's because of these ancient prayers and traditions I'm able, because I'm Catholic, to have so much more richness and meaning in my life today. I hope this has helped you get a richer understanding of one of the prayers that's important to Catholics. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Julie South [00:19:11]:
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.