ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Evensong, Easter VI – Ave Maria

Fr Ivan Aquilina

A prayer that comes to us through angels. A prayer that is at the heart of the Mystery of our Salvation. A prayer recited in Churches, in wayside shrines, on the roads and on all means of travel, a prayer set to most beautiful music. A prayer that brings joy, comfort and security: Ave Maria. A prayer that tonight we enjoyed Mendelssohn’s rendition of it, the prayer that I will like to share some thoughts with you tonight during this wonderful month of May: The Hail Mary.

The Hail Mary is divided into three parts. The first part was given to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel. The second part was also given to Mary this time by St Elizabeth, the mother of St John the Baptist. Both are recorded in Sacred Scripture. Inspired by the Holy Ghost these two parts encouraged the Church Militant to add a further bit to it and so came the third part.

Let us look at this prayer according to its threefold division.

Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee! The angel is a messenger from God, the words he delivers are not his, they come directly from God. This sentence comes from God as He enters human history to bring about the awaited salvation of all. As these words come from God then they are weighted words, fruitful, bearing a lot of meaning. The first word hail is a translation from the Greek Xaire: rejoice. It is a common form of greeting: God speaks to humanity in forms that humanity can understand; by using what is ordinary the extraordinary is introduced. The moments when God directly intervenes in human history are called the fullness of time, in theology known as: Xairos. Xaoiros and Xaire mean: Rejoice. The fact that God enters human history in such a direct way brings joy to Mary and brings joy to all humanity. The Incarnation therefore happens in a moment of joy. Whenever we start praying the Hail Mary we need to think that the mystery of our salvation starts in sharing the divine joy.

Mary is acclaimed as full of grace. The grace of God is holiness. Mary is full of this grace and holiness, she is sinless, and this affirmation is given while she still can accept or reject God’s proposal.

No wonder than that the Lord is with her, through her he will be Immanu’ El God with all of us, through her who is full of joy and grace.

Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. The second part of the Hail Mary comes from St Elizabeth; the context is the visitation of Mary. Mary learns from the angel that Elizabeth is with child and so she goes to lend a hand.

The sinner often seeks for something which he does not find; but to the just it is given to find what he seeks: Thus, Eve sought the fruit of the tree but she did not find in it that which she sought. Everything Eve desired, however, was given to the Blessed Virgin. Eve sought that which the devil falsely promised her, namely, that she and Adam would be as gods, knowing good and evil. Eve was not made like God after having eaten of the fruit, but rather she was unlike God in that by her sin she withdrew from God and was driven out of paradise. The Blessed Virgin and we with her, find in the Fruit of her womb all that we need to be like Him. In the Fruit of the Blessed Virgin we find sweetness and salvation. The fruit which Eve desired was beautiful to look upon, but that Fruit of the Blessed Virgin is far more beautiful, for even the Angels desire to look upon Him. He is the splendour of the glory of the Father. The Blessed Virgin is indeed blessed and far more blessed is the Fruit of her womb.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

That Mary is Holy is given in the revealed salutations that we have just considered. The Church bursts forth in praising Mary as holy, as Theotokos: Mother of God. How can God have a mother since he is from everlasting? All the doctrinal truths about the Blessed Virgin Mary happened as a result of theological reflection upon Christ. When the Church proclaimed that Jesus is both human and divine it came to the natural conclusion that if Mary is the mother of Jesus she is his mother not only in his humanity but also in his divinity as we can not split Christ in either human or divine, in him both are together: the hypostatic union. So Mary is also the Mother of God. The Church asks for her intercession, we are united in love, a love of a mother never dies and so she continues to love us and intercedes for us both now and especially at that glorious moment of our death where we hope she will be by our side, smiling at us and holding our hand as we step across to enter the gates of Jerusalem the Golden.

As we think of the joy of the angels and the saints that gave us this prayer let us turn our eyes to the Immaculate Mother and say to her: Yes Mary, mother of God and ours, sinless and blessed, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.