Everyday Prayers: Hail, Holy Queen, Part 3

Once again, we will resume our reflections on the Hail, Holy Queen by praying this beautiful 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. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us – With these words, we ask Mary to look upon us in our misery. We beg her to turn to us with compassion, seeing not just our sins but our weaknesses, our needs, and our longings. Mary is our Advocate, the one who takes our case before the divine Judge and pleads for our pardon and our peace. She also presents all of our prayers to God, joining her own prayers to them to strengthen them that they may be answered according to the divine will.

2. and after this our exile – When we are in this world, we are away from our true home, which is Heaven. We lack face-to-face contact with God, the beatific vision that we one day hope to have. We walk in exile, on a journey toward our homeland but still separated from the perfection we crave. As St. Paul says, while we are here on earth, we see only as through a darkened mirror, dimly, indistinctly (1 Cor 13:12), but after the days of our exile, we will see the glory of God.

3. show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus – In fact, we ask Mary to show us her Son and, in doing so, we are actually asking her to get us safely home to Heaven, where we will see Jesus face to face. As we make this request, we also acknowledge that Jesus is both God (reigning in Heaven) and Man (born of Mary).

4. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! – We cry out to our Mother with open, longing hearts, recognizing her great mercy, her tender love, and her sweet nature.

5. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God – Once again, we beg for Mary's powerful prayers, knowing that as the spotless Mother of God, she has special access to her divine Son, Jesus.

6. that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ – What are the promises of Christ? Jesus has promised eternal life to those who believe in Him and obey His commands. And what are Jesus' commands? In the Gospel of Matthew, a lawyer asks Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus responds, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (22:36-40). When we ask Mary to make us worthy of the promises of Christ, then, we are asking her to obtain for us living faith, the faith that both believes in Who Jesus is and lovingly acts on what He commands.

7. Amen – With this one little world, we give our full ascent to everything we have just said about the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in our lives and in God's plan of salvation. Our Amen should express our great love for our Mother.

Now let us pray:

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.