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. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus
ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Ave Maria, cheia de graça, o senhor é
convosco; bendita sois vós, entre as mulheres, e bendito é o fruto do vosso ventre Jesus. Santa Maria, Mãe de Deus, rogai
por nós pecadores, agora e na hora da nossa morte. Amém.
"The more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary
only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we
are seeking, which is Jesus."
- St. Louis De Montfort
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he
said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that
hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Gospel of John 19:26-27
In this passage in the Gospel of John, Jesus dying on the Cross
tells "the disciple" to behold his Mother Mary. It seems that Jesus is referring to John, but the actual words are "the
disciple." And so, in that instant, Mary becomes Mother of all disciples of Jesus, including those in our own time who
follow Jesus. To quote Pope John Paul II in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater, "This is true not only of John,
who at that hour stood at the foot of the Cross together with the Mother [of Jesus], but it is also true of every disciple
of Christ, of every Christian (45.3)."
Catholics celebrate the Mass, read the Bible, and receive the Seven Sacraments.
Three of our favorite prayers are the Our Father, the Hail Mary (or Ave Maria), and the Rosary, by which we pray to Mary
to intercede for us, her children on earth [John 19:26-27]. The Our Father is the prayer given to us by Jesus himself in the
Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew [6:9-13]. The Scriptural basis for the Hail Mary is from the Gospel
of Luke [1:26-42]. Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God [Mark 1:1, Acts 9:20, Romans 1:4, 2 Cor 1:19]. As Jesus is
both God and man, Mary is the Mother of God [Luke 1:43]. Her intercessory role of the second part of the prayer is based on
her mediation at the wedding feast of Cana, recorded in the Gospel of John [2:1-12]. The Rosary is a Biblical account of the
life of Jesus. The Rosary spread as a devotion in France, where it is believed that Mary herself gave the Rosary to St. Dominic,
a Spanish preacher and founder of the Dominicans.
Mary is our model of Love and Mercy, who intercedes with her Son
Jesus for us, her children on earth
