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POSIT: The Hail Mary (a.k.a. Ave Maria) is a biblical prayer. God gave it to
us. It's in the Bible in black and white.
RESPONSE: According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the "Hail Mary" is not an
in-the-Bible prayer, rather, it's a developed prayer; and it was developed
over a number of years.
Here's the entire text of the so-called Hail Mary.
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.
"Hail, the Lord is with thee" was plagiarized from Gabriel's greeting at Luke
1:28 (Douay-Rheims version).
"[Mary] full of grace" is fabricated.
"blessed art thou amongst women" was plagiarized from Elizabeth's greeting
at Luke 1:42 (Douay-Rheims version).
"blessed is the fruit of thy womb" was also plagiarized from Elizabeth's
greeting at Luke 1:42 (Douay-Rheims version).
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our
death. Amen." is attributed to the intervention of one Ste. Peter Canisius for
its acceptance into the Catechism of the Council of Trent in the year 1566.
Obviously then, pieces and parts of the Hail Mary, in its official form, are
snipped from the Bible; but the body text of the prayer itself, is not actually
in the Bible; viz: instead of God-given, it's a man-made supplication
concocted from excerpts; with an ending invocation spun entirely from
imagination.
FAQ: What's wrong with using the Ave Maria for personal prayer?
A: It's a scripted performance; as such it fails to comply with Heb 4:15-16,
which says:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet
without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive
mercy and to find grace for timely help."
The Greek word for "confidently" is parrhesia (par-rhay-see'-ah) which
means all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, and/or candor.
Reciting the lines of a script is not what I call forthright, nor blunt, nor out
spoken, nor candid. It's actually not much different than reciting a Hindu
mantra or chanting the pages of a siddur like one of those Jews bobbing
back and forth like a car toy at the Wailing Wall. In tech-speak: the Hail
Mary is a robo call; and we all know how annoying those detestable things
can be.
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