From Hail to Holy

Imagine yourself as a young girl from a small family in your neighbourhood who recently got engaged. All of a sudden, one day you are elevated to the highest pedestal a human can ever reach. This is the story of a young girl named Mary who was transformed from a least known mortal to the one who is empowered with the ability to salvage souls of lesser mortals!

The prayer Hail Mary starts with a salutation to a humble soul where the Archangel congratulates Mary for being the chosen one. The angel then appreciates her for the good life she led till then, knowing all the while that she was pre-destined by the Father to be the mother of His Son in Holy Spirit. A transformation is initiated next with the statement ‘Lord is with you’. It is quite natural for anyone, especially an unmarried woman who got recently engaged, to get a shock of her life to hear the kind of message that followed. Hence it was quite important to prepare her for the news by telling her that you are not alone. You are one with Lord now, literally and figuratively!

Millions of women were born before her. Many lived around her, far and near. Many more will be born after her. But she is the blessed one and that is what set her apart. Next came the biggest revelation in the history of mankind. A virgin who had never known a man gets told that she is carrying. From that moment onwards she realized that she is no longer just another girl. She is a mother! A mom who was lucky to carry God Himself in her womb and know the name of her baby exactly at the time the tiny life started growing in her.

The transformation is now complete. The young girl who was once hailed for her good life is now the holiest among the holy ones!

The title ‘Mother of God’ does not need any further detailing. The startled youngster in her previous life is now bestowed with tremendous powers to pray for those beings among whom she once shared her living moments. She, the one who was born without sin, is given the right to pray for all of us, who were born into and lives in a life surrounded with sins. This power of hers if we invoke daily, works wonders as it is a shield that protects us from the sins that are omnipresent. It is all the more important that we invoke this power of hers everyday as it provides the much needed support to our soul at the exact moment it departs from our body, the time of which is probably the greatest mystery for humans!

Mary is called by the Supreme Power to be the mother of Jesus. But her greater calling is being the mother of the whole universe where she is entrusted with a task of our redemption for generations that went by and many more that are yet to come.

This wonderful invocation perhaps is the shortest prayer that bridges BC with AD. The prayer transcends the boundary before Jesus was born and after he was crucified and died. Hence the bridge between these history dividing events.

Let us walk the path from hail to holy along with our mother.

God bless!