• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Wednesday, March 22, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Instagram
Home
Word To Enkindle

Father Esposito: Hail Mary, Untier of Knots and Unifier of the Times

Thursday, October 5, 2017

A family prays the rosary during Holy Hour at St. Monica Catholic Church on Sept. 7. (RON HEFLIN/Special Contributor)

By Father Thomas Esposito
Special to The Texas Catholic

October is the month of the Rosary in the Roman Catholic tradition. Dedication to this devotion, and in particular its faithful recitation in October, is due largely to the victory of the Catholic Western powers over the Ottoman Empire at the naval battle of Lepanto on Oct. 7, 1571. This military triumph, which secured Europe from the imperial expansion of the Muslim Turks, was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady by Pope Pius V, who had encouraged Catholics to pray the Rosary before the momentous battle.

The rosary itself was designed as a meditation on the mysteries of Scripture through the eyes of Mary, a believing Jew who was called to be the mother of Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. The core prayer of the Rosary, the Hail Mary, is a fascinating summary of the Church’s understanding of Mary’s role in salvation history. The first section of the prayer is composed of two biblical verses drawn from the Gospel of Luke, both connected with the news that the virgin Mary is to be the mother of Jesus. The angel Gabriel greets her with the phrase “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). “Rejoice!” would perhaps be a better translation than “Hail,” and our repetition of the angel’s greeting places us at that first moment of the Incarnation, a time-unifying privilege which prayer alone can accomplish. The Hail Mary was first formulated in Latin, and the opening phrase of the prayer, Ave Maria, implicitly reminds us that Mary is the chosen woman who reverses the curse of our first parent Eve, whose name in Latin, Eva, is Ave spelled backwards. This little Latin wordplay underlines the beautiful insight of St. Irenaeus (d. 200 A.D.) that Mary’s “yes” to the angel undoes the knotted “no” of disobedience that Eve had tied by committing the original sin long ago.

After Mary gives her consent to this divine plan that she will conceive and bear a son, she runs to visit her cousin Elizabeth, herself six months pregnant with John the Baptist. At the approach of Mary (and Jesus!), John leaps in his mother’s womb, and Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” cries out to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42).

The second section of the Hail Mary highlights the fruit of the church’s long reflection on the divine mystery at work through Mary. In the year 431 A.D., the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus declared that Mary is to be venerated as the “Mother of God”; the Eastern churches still use the Greek word Theotokos, literally “God-bearer,” to describe Mary in their liturgy. This ancient tradition is coupled with a closing petition that Mary, who mediated to us the presence of the Incarnate Son of God, would intercede for us “now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

The bridge between these two sections of the Hail Mary is the name of Jesus. In the original Latin prayer, both sections contain 15 words, and the name of Jesus unites the biblical salutations to Mary and our contemporary needs which we entrust to the Mother of God. In fact, the prayer can be regarded as a compendium of time consecrated to God: just as the biblical verses underline the past marvels that God has worked for our salvation, the titles “Holy Mary, Mother of God” allow us to approach her with our present requests, and our plea for her presence at our death commends her to our future care so that we may rejoice with her in Heaven. After addressing Mary as the Mother of God worthy of our veneration (but not our worship — that is reserved to God alone), we then move to speak of her as our mother. Just as she was present to Jesus at the hour of his death on the cross, so too we implore her to accompany us when we give up our spirit.

Father Thomas Esposito, O.Cist., is a theologian and monk at the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Dallas in Irving. His column appears occasionally in The Texas Catholic.

  • Tags
  • Columnists
  • Father Thomas Esposito
  • The Texas Catholic
  • Word to Enkindle
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Bishop Kelly: Blessed Stanley Francis Rother: Priest and Martyr
Previous article Las Vegas Catholic churches, schools respond to shooting with prayers

Related Posts

Father Esposito: Happiness as the blessed life Columnists
Friday, March 10, 2023

Father Esposito: Happiness as the blessed life

Father Dankasa: Two voices in one Columnists
Thursday, March 9, 2023

Father Dankasa: Two voices in one

Prayerfully using Lenten seeds for Easter growth Columnists
Friday, March 3, 2023

Prayerfully using Lenten seeds for Easter growth

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.