‘Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee’ (Lk 1:28)
These were the words uttered by the Angel Gabriel to announce the beginning of our salvation through Jesus Christ.
‘Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,” (Lk 1:42)
This was Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary. To call her blessed among women was to liken Mary to such women as Judith and Esther whom God used to help save His people.
The name, Jesus, is the center of the Hail Mary prayer, as Him only do we worship.
‘ Holy Mary, Mother of God’
Now since Jesus is both fully God and fully Man, Mary cannot be divided as being the Mother of the Man and not the Mother of the God. She is the Mother of the whole Jesus, thus we honor her with her greatest title, the Mother of God.
‘Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.’
We ask for her prayers as we would ask it of our faithful friends, both those on earth and those in heaven, and we count on her maternal assistance at our death, which is after all, our birth into eternity.
