Why protestants should pray the 'Hail Mary'

From James 5:16  --  "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

Who could be more righteous that the very person that God knew from the beginning of time that He would use to become a human being?  For such an honour God would not simply choose any old 'good person'.  Remember, God did not simply appear in Mary's womb.  The Holy Spirit fertilized one of Mary's eggs before it arrived in her womb.  That is the only way that God could truly sacrifice His own divine life for mankind.  From the early Church fathers  we know that the early Christians learned that Mary was in heaven with her Lord and son, in body and soul, not merely rotting in the earth. 

Now look at this simple prayer:

"Hail Mary, full of grace.  The Lord is with Thee."  (Luke 1:28)--  Those are the biblical words of the archangel Gabriel as he greeted Mary

"Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (Jesus)(Luke 1:42).   Again, right out of the bible, these are the very words of St. Anne, the mother of St. John the Baptist.

So far in this prayer we have reminded ourselves just why it is that Mary's prayer for us can be 'powerful and effective'.

And who is Mary?  She is the mother of Jesus.  Who is Jesus?  Jesus is the Second person of the Holy Trinity.  Jesus is God, and Mary is His earthly mother.  To call Mary the 'mother of God' is important because in doing so we affirm that Jesus is God.

So next we simply ask Mary to pray for us, just as we would ask any good Christian to pray for us:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death"

Amen.


If you ignore any anti-Catholic thoughts, what is there to object to in this prayer.

Remember, the first recorded miracle of Jesus occurred after Mary asked his help after being approached by others at the wedding party in Cana.  Why should Jesus stop listening to her now?






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