Everyday Prayers: Hail, Holy Queen, Part 2

Let's take up our reflection on the Hail, Holy Queen by praying this beautiful little prayer.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen. 

1. our life – Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life, so how can Mary also be our life? Mary can be called our life because she is the mother of Jesus Christ. She willingly said yes to giving Him His human life, which in turn gave us our chance at eternal life. Scholars often call Mary the Coredemptrix, for she actively cooperated with Jesus Christ in obtaining our redemption, both through her assent to become the Mother of God and by continuing to say yes throughout Jesus' ministry and even at the foot of the cross.

2. our sweetness – Mary is perfectly sweet. She loves us dearly, and when life is bitter and difficult, we can turn to her to receive the beauty and sweetness of her motherly love and compassion. Her presence and that of her Son can make the worst situations at least tolerable and often even sweet when we trust in the divine plan as Mary always does.

3. our hope – Mary always intercedes for us. She always brings our prayers before her divine Son, augmented by her own perfect prayers. She always wants what is best for us, and the highest expression of that desire is Mary's longing for our eternal salvation. Mary wants all of us with her in Heaven forever, and she will do everything she can to get us there. We can place our hope in her motherly intercession, knowing that in doing so, we are also expressing our hope in Jesus Christ, for our Lord and His mother always work toward the same goal: our intimacy with God that will bring us to Heaven forever.

4. To thee do we cry – We cry out to Mary with our needs and desires, for she is our Advocate, who hears our cries and presents all of those needs and desires to her Son. This doesn't mean, of course, that we cannot and should not pray directly to Jesus. We can, we should, and we do. But when we allow Mary to join her prayers to ours, she automatically strengthens our prayers. Jesus once said, “Again, truly I tell you, if two if you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by My Father in Heaven” (Matthew 18, RSV). How much more effective our prayers will be if we join them to those of Mary, who sits at her Son's side in Heaven!

5. poor banished children of Eve – When Eve fell for the serpent's temptation and took the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she created a legacy of banishment and sin for all of her children. With Adam, Eve was forced into exile from the Garden of Eden. Humanity lost the paradise it once enjoyed and continues to live in banishment in a broken world until the end of time when Jesus will usher in a new Heaven and a new earth.

6. to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears – Everyone has reason to sigh, mourn, and weep in this world, for we are still plagued by the consequences of our first parents' sin. We are frail and broken, prone to sin and suffering in this imperfect world. But our Mother is always ready to listen to our heartaches and comfort us in our sorrows.

We'll continue our reflection on the Hail, Holy Queen in the next post, but now let's pray once again:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

Everyday Prayers: Hail, Holy Queen, Part 1

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of all Christians, whether they know it or not, because she is the mother of Christ's whole body: the head, Jesus Christ Himself, and all the members, those who are baptized into Christ. 

From the cross, Jesus gave His mother to the world, as represented by the apostle John. “Woman, behold your son,” He told Mary. Then He turned to John: “Behold your mother.” 

We Catholics accept and love Mary as our mother and our queen, knowing that she loves each of us as her child and that she intercedes for us with her powerful prayers and distributes to us the graces she receives from her Son. We honor Mary in many ways, including by reciting the following everyday prayer:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen. 

Let's take a close look at this little gem of a prayer.

1. Hail – This word indicates a special greeting for a special person. We are not merely saying hello but addressing Mary in a more formal way that recognizes her special status as the Mother of God and as our mother and queen.

2. Holy – By a special, anticipatory application of the salvation merited by Jesus on the cross, Mary was conceived without original sin. This process is called preventative redemption. Jesus is still Mary's savior, but the Blessed Trinity chose to enact her salvation ahead of time. Because of that divine choice, Mary was conceived and born in a state of grace, with the divine presence secure in her soul. Further, she was preserved from all personal sin. Mary always acted out of love. She never once offended God. She never once missed the mark and messed up. But she didn't do this on her own. Just as God placed sanctifying grace in her soul at the very moment of her conception, He gave her actual graces at every moment to sustain her sinlessness. Mary has always been, therefore, completely holy, set apart for God and following God's will in every aspect of her life.

3. Queen – In the Old Testament, the queen was not the wife of the king. She was the king's mother. The Queen Mother played an important role in the kingdom, serving as a mediator between the king and his people and as an advocate for the needs and desires of the people. She interceded on behalf of the king's subjects, placing their requests before the king. The king, in turn, treated his mother with the greatest of respect, and while he did not always grant every request she brought before him, people understood that they had a much better chance of obtaining favor if they approached the king through his mother. Mary is the Queen Mother, the mother of the King of Kings. She places our prayers before her Son and advocates on our behalf, and her Son answers her every request even though, in His divine wisdom, He may not always grant us everything we want.

4. Mother of mercy – Mary is the mother of mercy in more ways than one. First, she is the most merciful of mothers. Because she is sinless, she loves her children perfectly. She does not always agree with their decisions and actions, but she always wants to help them turn to God with repentant hearts to receive His forgiveness. Her mercy toward us is an extension of God's mercy toward us and is meant to draw us toward God. Second, Mary is the mother of Mercy with a capital M because she is the mother of Jesus Christ, Who is mercy incarnate. As God, Jesus doesn't just exhibit characteristics like love, truth, beauty, goodness, and mercy, He actually is love, truth, beauty, goodness, and mercy in His very being. In other words, mercy isn't just something God does or gives; mercy is something He is in Himself. Mary is the mother of Mercy in person.

We'll continue our reflection on the Hail, Holy Queen in the next post, but now let's pray once again:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.