THE HAIL MARY---IS IT SCRIPTURAL?
Hail Mary, full of grace!
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Many accusations have been made that the prayer called the "Hail Mary" is both fictitious (made up without any biblical foundation) and worship of Mary. First let's address it's textual validity, for indeed the prayer consists of some Gospel verses put together.
- "And coming to her [Mary], he [the angel Gabriel] said, 'Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.'"Luke 1:28
This is where lines one and two come from. They are the greeting of the angel Gabriel when he tells Mary that she has been selected by God to be Jesus' mother.
- "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and 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 1:41-42
This is where lines three and four come from. They are just Elizabeth's joyous exclamations about Mary being the mother of Jesus.
- "'And how does this happen to me [Elizabeth], that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'"Luke 1:43
This is where line five comes from. Mary is called the "Mother of my Lord," my Lord being God.
- The last line is merely asking for Mary to pray for us.
Now, on to the second point, the one about worshipping Mary. Some say that this prayer is used to worship her. However, the only thing that we are doing when we pray the Hail Mary is asking her, a saint and a holy woman in full union with God in heaven, to bring our prayers and petitions to Him. Just the same as one would ask a friend before a vacation to pray that he may have a safe trip, we do the same with Mary.