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The Ave Maria and Louis de Montfort

The Ave Maria/Hail Mary brought salvation to mankind.

Here’s a beautiful rendition sung by the powerful singer, Celine Dion, enjoy …

It really brings the beauty of the prayer to life…

From “The Secret of the Rosary” by Louis de Montfort-this is the best book I have ever read on the Rosary and this passage brings out the wonders of the simple yet beautiful scriptural prayer of the Hail Mary…

  • THIS HEAVENLY SALUTATION draws down upon us the blessings of Jesus and Mary in abundance, for it is an infallible truth that Jesus and Mary reward in a marvelous way those who glorify them. They repay us a hundred fold for the praises that we give them. “I love them that love Me . . . that I may enrich them that love Me and fill their treasures.” [1] Jesus and Mary have always said: “We love those who love Us; we enrich them and fill their treasuries to overflowing.” “He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings.” [2]
  • Now, if we say the Hail Mary properly, is not this a way to love, bless and glorify Jesus and Mary?
  • In each Hail Mary we bless both Jesus and Mary: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
  • By each Hail Mary we give Our Lady the same honor that God gave her when He sent the Archangel Gabriel to greet her for Him. How could anyone possibly think that Jesus and Mary, who often do good to those that curse them, could ever curse those that bless and honor them by the Hail Mary?
  • Both Saint Bernard and Saint Bonaventure say that the Queen of Heaven is certainly no less grateful and conscientious than gracious and well-mannered people of this world. Just as she excels in all other perfections, she surpasses us all in the virtue of gratitude; so she would never let us honor her with love and respect without repaying us one hundred fold. Saint Bonaventure says that Mary will greet us with grace if we greet her with the Hail Mary.
  • Who could possibly understand the graces and blessings which the greeting and tender regard of Our Lady effect in us? From the very first instant that Saint Elizabeth heard the greeting that the Mother of God gave her, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and the child in her womb leaped for joy. If we make ourselves worthy of the greeting and blessings of Our Lady we shall certainly be filled with graces and a flood of spiritual consolations will come down into our souls.

  1. Prov. 8:17, 21. 2. Cor. 9:6. (Extract from http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/secret-rosary18.htm)

Therefore it is a privilege to know and pray the words over and over again in Our Lady’s favourite prayer, the Rosary:

Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.Amen.

St Teresa of Avila I recall once told the story of a nun from her Convent who died and appeared to St Teresa in a dream.
The nun told St Teresa that she would willingly undergo the sufferings of her whole life again in exchange for the merits of one Hail Mary said with love.
The Hail Mary is SO powerful because the Angelic Salutation brought eternal salvation to the world!

How to Obtain Mary’s Help!

There’s a simple way to obtain Mary’s powerful help.

Mary’s intercession with God is all powerful in Heaven. On earth, Mary always did the Will of God with the utmost love and faithfulness and, at every moment: she never sinned.

Because of this, Mary is the advocate par excellence with her Son, Jesus, who is the ‘one mediator’ with the Father. Mary never leads anyone away from her Son-she leads us to Jesus on a deeper level. We cannot underestimate the power of Mary to help us in all our spiritual and temporal (wordly) needs of which we have many, known and unknown to us.

Here is the simple method I use especially when you are worried about things. The method is surprisingly simple yet very powerful:

A letter to Mary Our Mother when distressed or worried about things in life- Mary will help with the problem or give you peace about it and strength to carry it

Dear Mary, my Mother,

You have always helped me in the past and I thank You.Please may I give you the following things I am worried about. You can work out things a 1000 times better than I ever could or can.

Now list what is bothering you in detail-write it all out-get it all off your chest-the worries and the associated fears!

If it helps, you can number your problems, needs and worries i.e. Problem 1, Problem 2, Problem 3 etc.

End your letter with something like…

Mary, I give You everything, known and unknown and my future and the future of …..Please undo all the knots that we are in and grant us Your peace and strength. As You took care of everything that was needed at the wedding feast of Cana, please take care of my needs.

Take each one of these sufferings and unite them to Your sufferings on earth in penance for sins and to take out some of the swords that pierce Your Immaculate Heart becuase of the ingratitude and sins of men.

Mary, if these worries that I have given You today come back again, I will say, “NO, Mary is in charge of all that now, I will hurt Mary’s feelings if I worry about them again”. I will refuse to take the worries back out of your hands and hurt You Mary.

I will keep saying ‘Mary is in charge of everything, I will hurt Mary if I worry’.

Mary, send Your holy angels to help me and whoever will help me on earth. Amen

Note-it may help to put the letter in an envelope and ‘give’ it to your Guardian Angel to present it to Mary. I put the letter under a blessed picture or statue of Mary for safe keeping.

It is fascinating to find the letter some time later and realise how many problems have been resolved or that simply melted away!

Try this simple formula, it works and it’s a lot more powerful than sitting brooding on difficulties and getting nowhere fast!