A few years ago the papers the world over reported a miracle. With 185 passengers Chesny sellar Burglar was flying a plane. It was flying hundreds and hundreds of miles up in the space. All on a sudden a flight of birds hit against the aircraft. The entire flight system was collapsed. The pilot could do absolutely nothing by himself. He was quite sure of the one of two things. Either the plane will burn out and all the 185 passengers and the crew will be burned to ashes. Or it will fall straight into the Atlantic Ocean. What actually happened was: the plane slowly came down and sat on the ocean as if on a firm surface. The great miracle was that it, so to say, padded on to the ocean and remained there in tact until helicopters from all sides came and lifted all the 185 passengers and the entire crew.
The reporters from all over the world interviewed the pilot. Exhausted and shivering he told them: “The moment I smelt the danger I called on God. In all faith I called: “Oh my God”. Ever after I was reciting the prayer Hail Mary till the nth time. I am hundred percent sure that God saved us because of the most powerful intercession of Our Blessed Mother”. In the light of this great miracle, let us for a moment, meditate upon the prayer ‘Hail Mary’. Of course, it has two parts. The first part is certainly a praise to the Queen of heaven. This part incorporates three versicles from the gospel written by St Luke.
- Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you (God’s Angel Gabriel) Gabriel was sent by God and John 3:34 states: “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that the Father gives the Spirit.”
- Blessed are you among women
- Blessed is the fruit of your womb (Elizabeth)The second part is an intercessory prayer to the Blessed virgin added by the teaching Magisterium of the Catholic church.
Hence, Lk 1:28 is God’s own praise of the virgin , the beloved Daughter of the Father, the most loving Mother of the Son and the dear Bride of the Holy Spirit.
The word of God is very clear: “The babe in Elizabeth’s womb was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry”. “When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy” (Luk. 1:44) Hence it should, by all means, be admitted that the details of Elizabeth’s address were revealed to her by the Holy Spirit. These things, it should be clear to anyone who reads the Bible with an open mind, that the truths referred to above are quite Biblical and not any discovery of the Catholic Church. Mt. 10:20 is very evident: “For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”. Even David refers to this truth. “The spirit of the Lord speaks by me, His word is upon my tongue” (2 Sam. 1:2). At least two things must be crystal clear to any honest reader of the Holy Writ.
- The prayer Hail Mary is formulated by Heaven. The supreme Mystery the Holy Trinity itself is its author
- The unique position, the position of Co-redemtrix, The Blessed Virgin enjoys in the Economy of salvation. As hinted earlier, the Hail Mary contains the revealed words of the Holy Trinity. They directly glorify, the Mother of God. As Sirach tells us: “Whoever glorifies the mother is like one who lays up treasure” [in heaven] (3:4). In a vision Our Lord once revealed to St. Gertrude that every Hail Mary is a very precious gold coin, which will be the reciter’s sure and fair fare to heaven.
Hail Mary is a prayer that brings us lots of indulgence. It is a very powerful prayer of deliverance. The devil is terribly afraid of this prayer. It is a prayer of protection as well.
To enable us to practice “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5) faith must be a devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
