Friday, January 15, 2016

THE THREE HAIL MARYS DEVOTION


What does this devotion consist of?

It consists of praying the Hail Mary to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the purpose of either honoring her or obtaining a favor through her intercession.

What is the purpose of this devotion?

To honor the three main attributes of the Holy Virgin, which are:
1. The power she received from the Eternal Father due to being His favored daughter.
2. The wisdom bestowed upon her by God the Son in choosing her as His mother.
3. The mercy with which the Holy Ghost fulfilled her in choosing her to be the Immaculate Conception.
Hence the number of Hail Marys to be prayed is three.

How to pray the three Hail Marys:

“Mary, my Mother, deliver me from falling into sin.”

1. For the power granted to you by the Eternal Father
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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.
"By thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy."

2. For the wisdom granted to you by God the Son
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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.
"By thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy."

3. For the mercy granted to you by the Holy Ghost
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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.
"By thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy."

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

ORIGINS OF THIS DEVOTION

St. Mechtilde (Matilda), a Benedictine nun, requested the Virgin Mary to assist her in the hour of her death. Our Lady told her the following: “I will certainly. But I also want you to say three Hail Marys to me every day. The first will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature that after God I have the greatest power in Heaven and on earth. In the hour of your death I will use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power far from you. The second Hail Mary will be said in honor of the Son of God Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to me. In the hour of your death I will fill your soul with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled. The third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Ghost Who filled my soul with the sweetness of His love, tenderness and mercy, so much so, that after God I am the sweetest and most merciful. In your last hour I will then change the bitterness of death into divine sweetness and delight.”

This promise extended for the benefit of whoever practices this daily devotion of the three Hail Marys.

PROMISES OF THE VIRGIN MARY FOR DAILY PRACTITIONERS OF THIS DEVOTION

Our Lady promised Saint Matilda and other pious souls that those who recited the three Hail Marys daily would have her assistance during life and in the time of death. She explained that she would appear at the hour of death in a splendor so extraordinary that it will fill the soul with heavenly consolation and communicate to it the joys of Heaven.

Our Lady renews her promise of protection:

One day, when sister Mary Villana, Dominican sister, was praying the three Hail Marys, she heard from the lips of the Holy Virgin these encouraging words:

“Not only will you obtain whatever it is that you ask me, provided it benefits your soul, but I promise you I will be a special protectress of whoever salutes me with this devotion”

She then added: “I have always been very pleased with the devotion of the three Hail Marys… Never stop saying them and make them known to everyone… You will verify the effectiveness of this devotion every day.”

In one of her apparitions to St. Gertrude, Our Lady told her the following: “Whoever honors me in my relation with the Holy Trinity will experience the Power granted to me by the Omnipotence of the Father as the Mother of God; will admire the resourceful means inspired to me by the wisdom of God the Son for human salvation and behold the fervent charity of my heart granted by the Holy Ghost.”

FOUNDATION OF THIS DEVOTION

The foundation of this devotion is the Catholic belief that the mother of God possesses the God-given attributes of power, wisdom and mercy at the highest level possible for a creature.

That is what the Church teaches when she calls Our Lady: Virgin Most Powerful, Mother of Mercy and Throne of Wisdom.


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Source of information: Blog CATOLICIDAD http://www.catolicidad.com/2010/05/devocion-de-las-tres-aves-marias.html Translated from Spanish by: Fabiola Lozano.