Hail Mary"

Today's Mass Readings


Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and the New World. It is therefore only fitting that the day be celebrated with readings from the Gospel of Luke, which alone among the four Gospels records the story of the Annunciation and the great song of praise attributed to the Virgin Mary, the Magnificat. Catholics are often surprised to learn that the words of the Hail Mary are taken from the same passage in Luke’s Gospel which gives us the Maginifcat. The Hail Mary is among the simplest and yet most profound prayers in the Christian tradition. The words of the prayer are taken from Scripture. The first part of the prayer comes from the archangel Gabriel’s salutation to Mary in Luke 1:28, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.” The second part of the prayer, “and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” is taken from St. Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary in Luke 1:42. The final part of the prayer, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,” is a reminder of the dogmatic declaration of the Council of Ephesus, which in 431 declared Mary the theotokos, or God-bearer, and of the common Christian practice, dating back to the time of the Apostles, of intercessory prayer. Even the name of the prayer, Hail Mary, derives from the “Angelic Salutation” of the archangel Gabriel in Luke’s Gospel.

Although various parts of the Hail Mary itself were incorporated into various Christian liturgical rites as early as the 500’s, the prayer itself did not come into popular usage until the beginning of the second millennium. By the 1200’s the prayer was firmly established, along with the Our Father and the Creed, as one of the foundational prayers of Christian liturgical celebration and of catechetical instruction. Today, the Hail Mary is one of the most widely recited prayers in the Catholic world.

As we pray through the Advent season awaiting the arrival of Jesus, we should be mindful of Mary’s role in salvation history. Mary, the new Eve, said “yes” to God, and in doing so erased the sin of our primeval mother Eve. Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant, reveals within her womb Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Bread from Heaven, and the High Priest. Mary, the origin of new life, gives us Jesus Christ, her Son. We should offer God praise and thanksgiving for so great a Mother.

Michael Lombardo