The Hail Mary is pleasing to Our Lady, Mary: Day 288

The Hail Mary is pleasing to Our Lady, Mary: Day 288 May 4, 2016

year_with_mary_alphonsus_3The Hail Mary is pleasing to Our Lady

Do you want to say a prayer that pleases our Blessed Mother? St. Alphonsus assures us that she finds no prayer more agreeable than a Hail Mary.

The Hail Mary comes, of course, from the angelic greeting to the ever- blessed Virgin. It’s most pleasing to her, because whenever she hears it, she seems to experience anew the joy that she felt when St. Gabriel announced to her that she was the chosen Mother of God. With this purpose in mind, we should often salute her with the Hail Mary. “Greet her,” says Thomas à Kempis, “with the angelic greeting; for she indeed hears this sound with pleasure.” The Mother of God herself told St. Matilda that she finds no greeting more agreeable than the Hail Mary. Whoever greets Mary will also be greeted by her.

St. Bernard once heard a statue of the Blessed Virgin greet him, saying, “Hail, Bernard.” Mary’s greeting, says St. Bonaventure, will always bring some grace corresponding to the needs of the one who salutes her: “She willingly salutes us with grace, if we willingly salute her with a Hail Mary.”

Richard of Saint Lawrence adds, “If we address the mother of our Lord, saying, ‘Hail Mary,’ she cannot refuse the grace which we ask.” Mary herself promised St. Gertrude that at death she would have as many graces as she had said Hail Marys.

Blessed Alan de la Roche asserts that “as all heaven rejoices when the Hail Mary is said, so also do the demons tremble and flee.” This truth Thomas à Kempis affirms from his own experience. He says that once the Devil appeared to him, but then instantly fled on hearing the Hail Mary.

—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

How often do I pray the Hail Mary? Which of its words or phrases mean the most to me, and why?

CLOSING PRAYER

Our Lady, I join now with the angel Gabriel in saluting you: Hail Mary, full of grace . . .

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