“The Lord is with thee” by His grace and favor, since you are the one He loves best.  He is with all His creatures, but He is with you in a very special manner.

After the visit of the angel, the Blessed Virgin went a good distance to visit her cousin, St. Elizabeth, who was the mother of St. John the Baptist (Luke 1:39).  When St. Elizabeth saw her, she, without being told by the Blessed Virgin what the angel had done, knew by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost what had taken place, and said to the Blessed Virgin:  “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”  That is “blessed” because, of all the women that have ever lived or ever shall live, you are the one selected by God to be the mother of His Son and Our Redeemer, and blessed is that Son Himself.  This is the second part of the prayer.  The third part, from “Holy Mary” to the end, was composed by the Church.

“Hail.”  This was the word used by the people of that country in saluting one another when they met.  We say when meeting anyone we know, “Good day,” or “How do you do?” or some such familiar expression used by all in salutation.  So these people, instead of saying, “Good day,” etc., said “Hail” i.e., I wish you health, I greet you, etc.  The angel did not say “Mary,” because she was the only one present to address.

“Full of grace.”  When anything is full it has no room for more.  God’s grace and sin cannot exist in the same place.  Therefore when the Blessed Virgin was full of grace, there was no room for sin.  So she was without any sin and gifted with every virtue.

“Holy Mary,” because one full of grace must be holy.

“Mother of God,” because her Son was true God and true man in the one person of Christ, Our Lord.

“Pray for us,” because she has more power with her Son than all the other saints.

“Sinners,” and therefore we need forgiveness.

“At the hour of our death” especially, because that is the most important time for us.  No matter how bad we have been during our lives, if God gives us the grace to die in His friendship, we shall be His friends forever.  On the other hand, no matter how good we may have been for a part of our lives, if we become bad before death, and die in that state, we shall be separated from God forever, and be condemned to eternal punishment.  It would be wrong, therefore, to live in sin, with a promise that we shall die well, for God may not give us the grace or opportunity to repent, and we may die in sin if we have lived in sin.  Besides this, the devil knows how much depends upon the state in which we die, and so he perhaps will tempt us more at death than at any other time; for if we yield to him and die in sin, we shall be with him forever—­it is his last chance to secure our souls.