Did you know that the Hail Mary prayer is totally Bible based?

Question

HAIL MARY

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou among women, and blessed id the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen"

Lets break it down:
1) Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee (direct quote from scripture: Luke 1:28)
2) Blessed are thou among women, and blessed id the fruit of thy womb, Jesus (direct quote from scripture: Luke 1:42)
3) Holy Mary, mother of God (Christ is God incarnete, and since Mary bore God in her womb she is rightly called the Mother of God: "Theotokos", or "God-bearer". Remeber what Elizabeth said: "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?" Luke 1:43)

4) pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen (Revelation 5:8 shows that the saints in heaven do actively intercede for us, and in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul strongly encouraged Christians to intercede for each other since such prayers are "pleasing to God". Since Paul says that death does not seperate us from God, it is good to ask our departed brothers and sisters to pray for us the same way we would ask those on earth to pray for us. After all, "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16 (KJV).

Now, the last time I posted this, someone replied: "Yikes! You actually believe that praying to a dead woman who was a sinner just like the rest of us will get you ANYTHING?"

Well, remember this: No one ever dies. Those in heaven are just as alive as you or I. More so, in fact. And they are still members of the Body of Christ (the Church) so you can ask them to pray for you just as you would ask any other Christian to pray for you.

Here are some tracts that may be of interest:
http://www.catholic.com/library/mary_saints.asp

To "Schneb" : It would only be vain if I were praying to a false god. It is not vein to ask my brothers and sisters to pray for me

To "Tamm" : I do not worship Mary. She is a human. It is not worship to ask someone to pray for you.

Answer 1

For those who still suffer the misconception that this is praying to Mary:

It's well understood among most that souls in heaven can hear your prayers.

This prayer is a request for Mary to pray for us, nothing more. It is well understood by educated catholics that Mary can do nothing but intercede on our behalf before the Lord. As Jesus' mother, she occupies a special place, and he cannot deny her or disobey her -- look at the wedding at Canae.

Not all Catholics understand this, and some --particularly those who come from the Spanish speaking world -- actually pray directly to Mary. This is is not sanctioned by the church, and it is not in accordance with the church's teaching. You cannot condemn the Catholic church as a whole when certain members do not follow the teachings properly.

Answer 2

As early as 380 AD, the Roman Empire declared the Catholic Church to be the official religion of the Empire. Nothing about your Church or what you believe is ordained in the Bible. Though many claim that the disciple, Peter, was the first Pope, historians give this title to the Roman Bishop Leo I (440-461). He was the first to claim ultimate authority over all of Christendom. Mary was a SINNER. just like you and me. Mary had to trust Jesus Christ and ask Him for forgiveness of her sins to go to heaven. Mary is in heaven today ONLY because she believed upon Jesus Christ as Saviour. John 14:6 is very clear... "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Answer 3

Some Lutherans i know say the Hail Mary but stop after"...fruit of thy womb,Jesus."
In the PBS" Luther",Martin L is presented praying the Rosary even on his deathbed

The Byzantine Rite (or Greek Orthodox)version follows "womb" with"... for thou hast borne the Savior of our souls."

Zwingli,the Iconoclast Prot. Reformer of Zurich ,had the Hail Mary in his Reformed Protestant Liturgy.

Luther .Calvin and most of the Early 16th Cent Prot reformers
had no problem in accepting Mary as Mother of God as should and would anyone who believes that Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God,is One united Person and not 2 separate Persons

Mary ,Mother of those who have Jesus as Brother, is a prayer partner with her children in the Family even when they are dying and with her siblings in the Body of Christ and an example of fidelity to us who are struggling by grace to live as servants of and yielders to the Lord

Ishtar(Venus) is not Queen of Heaven and she is the opposite of the Virginal,Pure and Humble Mary of Nazareth. Mary is the real Queen of Heaven since she is the mother (gebirah,queen mother) of the King of Heaven

Only Jesus as true God and true Man is in no need of a savior. Mary need to be saved as much as any child of Adam and Eve since she was descended from them and should have inherited the effect of the family disease of Sin. Mary was preserved from sin by the application of Jesus all-sufficient merits and grace because in the plan of god she was to be the immaculate vessel to carry the immaculate Water of Life, Jesus.

Answer 4

Well, as usual, the same ol same ol from them, eh CC?

At the outset, one point needs to be made. As Catholics, we don’t worship the Blessed Virgin Mary. To do so would be a terrible offense against God and a terrible insult to Mary as well. She is a creature and therefore is not to be worshipped (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 5:8-9). Rather, we show her respect and honor due to her unique and significant role in salvation history.

Answer 5

Hail Mary is one of my favorite prayers. This is a prayer I love to do or say whenever I can.

Answer 6

Mary (pbuh) does not intercede for us - despite your statement that (Revelation 5:8 shows that the saints in heaven do actively intercede for us,)
Rev: 5 - 8 states
8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The prayers of the saints are chronologically undefined but the text suggests these are collective - not immediately temporal. You have assumed rather than defined the tense.

Answer 7

CLAP! CLAP!CLAP! BRAVO!!! Thank you CC. But as you see the protties still deny our wonderful Mother Mary and that she is the Mother of God

Answer 8

So, let me get this straight.

You are praying to a saint in heaven (allegedly) so that she can pray to god for you.

She is already in heaven, why can't she just knock on his (metaphorical) office door and ask him directly. Why does she need to pray?

You are adding another whole layer of ridiculousness to the concept of begging an all knowing deity to change reality because you think it suits you better than why that all-knowing deity was planning to do before you started begging.


As for being bible based - I can use the bible to justify slavery and genocide. So what?

Answer 9

Kudos for being brave enough to broach a topic so controversial with Protestants. Keep it up!

Answer 10

completely falso. there is Scripture to back up this prayer, but Mary is NOT THE MOTHER OF GOD!!! She did not exist prior to her earthly birth. Jesus, on the other hand, did! God has clearly shown us that there is no one who can come to the Father, unless the go through Christ. He is the mediator between God and Humanity. There is no need to pray to anyone other than Jesus Christ.