Amen.
That Amen was uttered to the Glory of God.
Amen...
May all that I say in reciting my Ave, may everything it signifies,
be believed, honored and glorified!
May all that it asks for, be obtained for time and eternity;
for the now of this life passing away,
for today,
for this very moment that flits by!
May that Ave realize its triumph over us, over me, for the glory of Jesus Christ,
for the honor of Holy Mary,
Mother of God and Mother of men,
at the hour of our death,
at the hour of my death, mine, a sinner, a sinner!
Amen!
How grateful I am to you, Mary, for having allowed me to meditate on the grandeur of that Ave, that incomparable prayer, companion of the Our Father,
to write some few words about it.
Only too well I know that my thoughts and my written words
scarcely do justice to the reality of your being so sublime.
They are merely crumbs collected here and there from the banquet-table at which your great servitors, your saints, your doctors and learned theologians regale themselves.
What does it matter? This meditation on the Hail Mary foreshadows, though from afar, that reality of you.
It gives me, as it were, a foretaste in this vale of tears of that towards the everlasting vision of God, the meeting with Jesus, your Son, the sight of your beauty, of you, the all beautiful.
Amen. So be it!
The Hail Mary . . . that beautiful prayer!
What an exquisite antiphon!
I am not surprised that the sacred liturgy is filled with it;
that your holy Mass De Beata abounds in it,
that it runs throughout my breviary . . .
It pleased Jesus so!
You, too, it pleases, O Mother. May it always be so!
Amen. So be it!
The Hail Mary. A prayer which God spoke to a Virgin Mother,
which He delivered not by man's lips, but by those of an archangel,
one of the seven who stand before God,
a prayer, which the Most Blessed Trinity composed and gave to Gabriel to bring to an Immaculate
Conception!
After the Our Father, spoken by Jesus, eternal Wisdom,
can we truly compare it to any other prayer for holiness, depth, sublimity, efficacy?
Each time we recite it, we renew in the Virgin'a heart that boundless joy which flooded her soul at the moment when the Son God, Mary's Son, became flesh within her?
The Hail Mary. Surely we must realize now that that salutation is the heavenly antidote of the soul against the mortal bite of the serpent, of that serpent found in so many a statue and picture of Mary, whose head she crushes under her virginal heel!
What a veritable bludgeon it is, for smiting unceasingly that head which contrived and still unflaggingly contrives every plot attempted against the glory of God and of His Christ, against the honor of the Virgin Mother, against her Immaculate Heart, against the conservation and integrity of the Church, against the perfection of her saints, against the welfare of peoples, of society, of families, of individuals!
The Hail Mary. It is the nail driven by the woman clothed with the sun into the temple of Sisara, the enemy of God's people;
the millstone crashing on the abominable Abimelech;
Judith's sword severing the head of the impious Holofernes.
The Hail Mary remains the sword ever brandished by the Mother of God and ever crushing schisms, heresies, every enemy of the Christian name.
With the Hail Mary she triumphs and always will triumph over Satan, the eternal murderer.
Amen. So be it!
Ave Maria . . . Hail Mary!
Take, then, Christian soul, that sword with which you, too, may crush the hordes of hell;
with which you may overcome all temptations, in yourself and in all those you love;
with which you may accomplish marvels, perform miracles, heal bodies and save souls.
If it is possible for you, never neglect to say your beads every day, and if you find time, even the whole fifteen decades.
Be not afraid of distractions, provided you are willing to struggle against them.
Our heavenly Mother understands so well our weakness, our tired feelings, our weariness at times.
Hail Mary's multiplied never displease her.
She appreciates your murmurings of faith, hope and love.
Do your best. But, never give up your beads.
To carry them on your person . . . is that not as if your were saying them all day, all night secretly?
Keep them, at times, especially in time of trial, in the hollow of your hand. That is to clasp Mary's hand.
To conclude, keep this in mind, at least:
do not neglect to say three Hail Mary's morning and night to Mary, Mother of God and your Mother, to thank the Most Blessed Trinity for having given us her . . .
we can report marvelous results from faithfulness to that practice, among those who suffer, who labor, who undergo pain of any kind, in body, in soul, in the midst of cares, to safeguard their interest, for time and eternity.
When we love someone, we cease not to remind him of our love, and always we love him more.
In saying Hail Mary, you will never deceive your heart, and above all the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
She is your Mother . . . Does not that say all?
Amen! So be it! Yes, altogether right, sweet and good that it be so.
-from the book Hail Mary by Dom Eugene Vandeur, translated by John H. Collins, S.J., 1954, Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland. pages 132-135.
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