The first words addressed to the young girl Mary, quite unexpectedly, were “Hail Mary Full of Grace.” During this month, we celebrate and greet Mary by singing “AVE, AVE, AVE MARIA” millions and millions of times in all the languages all over the world. She has become an AVE, and she is AVE among us. She lives among us, AVE.
“Hail” is the reverential word of greeting generally addressed to sovereigns, kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, chief ministers, or other prominent personalities. Why did Mary, at her tender and young age, receive this title, and that too not from an ordinary person but from and through the messenger of God, the angel Gabriel? Gabriel means a Man of God.
What sort of star was she going to be? What was she expected to become with this greeting of “Ave”/“Hail”? Was she prepared to become a queen, as the people of Israel and even the apostles (James and John and their mother) expected Jesus to be, with a kingdom on earth, or was she to be someone greater? Or was she aware of the painful reality and ready to take up the responsibility? For a young girl like her, it would be too much to expect her to understand and know about the meaning and purpose of this mysterious greeting. But what she probably understood and accepted was the assurance in the other five short words: “Nothing is impossible for God” (Lk. 1:37). A deep-rooted and magnanimous faith of this sort is what she expects each one of us to have.
Fr Vincent Samy MSFS
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