II.  After the prayer of praise in the “Hail Mary” there follows the prayer of supplication which the Church has added.  This supplication is “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.  Amen.”  A short petition, but a significant one by which we invoke Mary’s intercession in all our needs.  The words holy Mary, mother of God, form the opening of this petition.  They repeat the truth contained in the prayer of praise, and are at the same time calculated to arouse our confidence in Mary.  The name “Mary” alone should awaken our confidence in the blessed Virgin, because the name Mary means sovereign.  Mary, is indeed a sovereign, a ruler.  As mother of the King of heaven and earth, she is the Queen of heaven and earth, and our lady, our queen as well.  Mary means also star of the sea.  As star of the sea Mary is to mankind what a kindly star is to the sailor who finds himself on the stormy waters.  This world resembles an ocean, where storms and perils abound to the menace of body and soul.  The winds and storms of temptations rise, the dangerous rocks of oppression threaten, the stormy waves of passion, of pride, of ambition, of avarice, of anger, envy, revenge, avidity beat upon us.  All these dangers trouble the heart and fill it with sorrow and fear.  And as the star leads the sailor to a safe haven, so Mary is to us the kindly star that inspires us with consolation and confidence and brings us rescue.

Holy Mary, mother of God!  As mother of God Mary possesses the power of mediation with her divine Son.  The angels and saints all together can not have the influence that Mary exercises.  The holy fathers and teachers refer to this power, when they say Mary is omnipotent through her intercession, as God is omnipotent in Himself.  Thus the opening of the supplication inspires veneration and confidence in Mary.  With this veneration and confidence then we ask, “Pray for us sinners.”  Thou, the holy one, the powerful and good, pray for us miserable sinners, not worthy to approach God and be heard.  Pray for us in all our temporal and spiritual necessities, in every danger of body and soul.  Pray above all, to obtain for us the grace of a perfect conversion and repentance, and the grace of perseverance until the end of life.  Pray for us, holy Mary, mother of God, now, while it is yet time for us to merit salvation, but pray for us especially when that solemn and sad hour of death has arrived.  In that dark hour will be decided our eternal destiny; at that dread hour forsake us not, Pray for us now, and at the hour of our death.

We have seen what an excellent prayer the Hail Mary is.  It follows that it is also an efficacious prayer.  When the Hail Mary was uttered for the first time by the Archangel it ushered in the most stupendous of all miracles.  And whenever we devoutly repeat this salutation with faith and confidence, it will be for us also a means of grace and blessing.  Whenever you salute Mary, says St. Bernard, she returns the greeting, she gives you in return consolation and blessing.