Do you (non-catholic christians) even know what the Hail Mary says?

Question

Without using google, and do you know what it means?

I dont mean to offend anyone, but Ive noticed that many do not (and thats one of the main things used against us)

Answer 1

Yes. But I was a Catholic for over 20 years. Mary was chosen by God to give birth to the baby Jesus, quite an honor. No one will dispute that. But please, give me scripture that supports praying to Mary.


And I'm not trying to be rude at all. I have always asked for actuall scripture, regarding praying to Mary, and no Catholic has ever provided any.

Answer 2

For those that keep telling us to read the Bible - maybe you should stop reading your Bible for your own ends and read it more completely. You are lacking in the full Truth.

asking dead Saints to pray for us!?:

Eph. 3:14-15- we are all one family ("Catholic") in heaven and on earth, united together, as children of the Father, through Jesus Christ. Our brothers and sisters who have gone to heaven before us are not a different family. We are one and the same family. This is why, in the Apostles Creed, we profess a belief in the "communion of saints." There cannot be a "communion" if there is no union. Loving beings, whether on earth or in heaven, are concerned for other beings, and this concern is reflected spiritually through prayers for one another.

Matt. 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30 - Jesus converses with "deceased" Moses and Elijah. They are more alive than the saints on earth.

Luke 15:7,10 – if the angels and saints experience joy in heaven over our repentance, then they are still connected to us and are aware of our behavior.

1 Cor. 1:2; Rom. 1:7 - we are called to be saints. Saints refer to both those on earth and in heaven who are in Christ. Proof:

Acts 9:13,32,41; 26:10; 1 Cor. 6:1-2; 14:33; 2 Cor. 1:1; 8:4; 9:1-2; 13:13; Rom. 8:27; 12:23; 15:25,26, 31; 16:2,15; Eph. 1:1,15,18; 3:8; 5:3; 6:18; Phil. 1:1; 4:22; Col 1:2,4,26; 1 Tm 5:10; Philemon 1:5,7; Heb. 6:10; 13:24; Jude 1:3; Rev. 11:18; 13:7; 14:12; 16:6; 17:6;18:20,24; Rev 19:8; 20:9 - in these verses, we see that Christians still living on earth are called "saints."

Matt. 27:52; Eph. 2:19; 3:18; Col. 1:12; 2 Thess. 1:10; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4; 11:18; 13:10 - in these verses, we also see that "saints" also refer to those in heaven who united with us.

Dan. 4:13,23; 8:23 – we also see that the angels in heaven are also called “saints.” The same Hebrew word “qaddiysh” (holy one) is applied to both humans and angels in heaven. Hence, there are angel saints in heaven and human saints in heaven and on earth. Loving beings (whether angels or saints) are concerned for other beings, and prayer is the spiritual way of expressing that love.

Answer 3

Her soul magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:46-55)!




Hail, Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.

Answer 4

To all of those why say that nowhere in the bible does it say to pray that way so it is wrong, the only specific prayer in the bible is the "Our Father", so when you deviate from that prayer, are you also wrong?

The "Hail Mary" IS in the bible, and we don't consider Mary a co-Redeemer.

Peace be with you all.

Answer 5

The Hail Mary prayer simply recites Bible passages (the Word of God) and asks Mary to pray for us:

Hail Mary Full of grace, the Lord is with you. (These are the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary, a Bible quote.)

Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (This is Mary's cousin Elizabeth's greeting, another bible quote.)

Holy Mary, (The angel Gabriel said she was full of grace and Elizabeth said she was blessed.)

Mother of God, (the Bible says Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, God the Son)

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. (A simple request to pray for us.)

Amen.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 2673 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt4sect1chpt2art2.htm

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 6

Yes, I went to a catholic college. Nobody could ever show me the verse in the Bible that says I can pray to anyone other than Jesus. I have a problem with the change of the ten commandments found in the Catholic Catechism . Compare it to the commandments found in your Bible and you will see that the commandment regarding false idols is gone and the last commandment regarding covetting is split in two. Who has the authority to change the commandments? Me, the church? I don't think anyone has.
Purgatory? Can't find backup for that in the Bible. Sorry, I love all people but the Bible is truth and we all have to be sure that the church we attend is the closest to the truth.

Answer 7

yeah, but i'll probably screw it up...

''hail mary, full of grace. blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.''

and then there's something about praying for us now and at the hour of death.

it means what it says. what else can it mean, really? the first part is from the book of luke.

my turn. can you recite to me the sinner's prayer, without using google, and tell me what it means?

Answer 8

and........ why would I need to know that?

Edit: Drew, the sinners prayer is not some written down thing that one can memorize and repeat. While every sinner's prayer would say some of the same things..that does not mean that any two sinners prayer's will be the same.

Answer 9

Okay, for the uneducated:

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. (Luke 1:28)

Blessed art thou among women, (Luke 1:28 again)

And Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. (Luke 1:31)

Holy Mary, Mother of God, (refer back to Luke 1:28-31. If she is "full of Grace" and has "found Grace with God", I think a convincing argument can be made that she is, indeed, holy. As for the "Mother of God" bit, the fact that she is to be the mother of Jesus, as in Luke 1:31, should make this a reasonable appellation to anyone who believes in the Trinity.)

Pray for us sinners (This seems to be the sticking point, I'll come back to it.)

Now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. (In 1Tim 2:1-4, Paul tells Timothy that prayers should be offered for everyone, and that this practice is good and acceptable in God's eyes. He does not specify any times, such as the hour of death, when such prayers should not be said, so it seems fair to consider a dying person equally worthy of prayers as a person who is not dying. See also Rom 15:30 and Phil 1:3-4, among others.)

So, that leaves the concepts of invoking saints and intercessions by the same on behalf of the living.

Why do we invoke Mary and the saints at all? Why should they be able to help us? It is clear from several Scripture passages that heavenly creatures are aware of and take an interest in the goings-on here on Earth. For example: "So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance." Luke 15:10.

In the Old Testament, Zacharias addressed an angel of God. The angel, in turn, interceded for the Israelites with God, and God answered the angel (Zach 1:7-13).

These and other similar passages suggest we may address the angels, at least, and faithfully expect that they will be aware of us and pray to God (or address God, if you prefer) on our behalf. Why should we want the angels to pray for us? Paul advocated the practice of having ordinary people pray for one another; should the prayers of the angels be any less pleasing to God than the prayers of human beings?

What about the saints then? Can they offer prayers?

In the visions of St. John, recorded in Revelation, he reports seeing an angel offering up all the prayers of the saints to God (Rev 8:3-4). This suggests that the saints can indeed offer prayers. John does not specify whether the saints are physically living or not. One can look at the lack of distinction as implied inclusion of all saints living or having already joined God in Heaven. However, let us not rely on deduction.

In Matthew 19:28, Jesus says to Peter, "Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This tells us that the Apostles will have positions of honor in Heaven and that they will be aware of the doings of people yet on Earth. He says further to the apostles, "Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." (Matt 18:18) Hence, the actions taken by the Apostles are equally relevant on Earth and in Heaven. This being the case, why shouldn't we ask for the intercessions of these holy men? What better people to have praying for you than these holy ones who have the ear of our Lord?

In the Catholic Church, our early theologians and church fathers reasoned that if we may confidently ask the angels and apostles for their prayers on our behalf, it followed logically that we may likewise do so with the other holy men and women who have gone before us. Of these holy ones, Mary arguably holds a particularly blessed position as the Mother of our Savior. Why should we not then greet her as the Angel did in the Scriptures and ask for her intercessions?

Do not make the mistake of thinking we worship her. We are not such simpletons that we cannot tell the difference between honoring a person and worshiping that person. Also, do not presume that by asking for the saints' intercessions, we go against 1Tim 2:5-6, which tells us that there is one God, and Christ is the one mediator. It makes no sense that Paul should ask so often for prayers if the "one mediator" bit means that nobody else can pray on his behalf.

All of this discussion and quoting of Scripture brings us back to the original question. The Ave Maria is first a recitation of Scripture associated with Mary and secondly a request for her intercession, which practice has support in Scripture.

Answer 10

I know what the prayer says.
Part of it is based on the angel's greeting to Mary in the bible.
The parts that are objectionable to non-Catholic Christians, as I'm sure you know, are that it is a prayer to a dead saint, some one who is not God, and it addresses Mary as the mother of God.

Answer 11

It's when there are only a few seconds left in the game and all available receivers run down to the end zone while the quarterback lofts the ball and prays one of his players catches it.