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MEDITATION ON THE PRAYER AVE MARIA
It is presented as readings to be given in small group settings with various speakers. The readings could be supplemented with images (art, slides, photographs) that correspond to the text, with familiar Marian hymns sung by all, or enhanced with recordings. See The Mary Page section on music for suggestions. The celebration was originally prepared for branches of the Schoenstatt Movement during the 1987 Marian Year, and is based on a text by the founder, Servant of God, Father Joseph Kentenich, July 31, 1927. The reflection was originally presented in a small-group, familiar, conversational, and personal setting. Reflection of the Prayer Ave Maria Music – (Select an Ave Maria) Speaker 1 Ave Maria! Rejoice Mary! We gather to honor you. We celebrate your name and with it the infinite name of Jesus, For you were called by name to bring him to us.
Speaker 2 We, too, are called by name to give birth to Jesus In our own hearts and in the hearts of those we love and are called to serve. Your name is somehow also our name for all of us are called to be like you, Yes, even to be you as we walk our way preparing the way for Christ.
Speaker 1 Long ago, a Servant of God, a saintly priest,
loved you, Mary, and reflected on the meaning of that familiar
prayer, the Hail
Speaker 2 We rejoice in the Sacred Text. We rejoice in Sacred Tradition. We rejoice in the angel’s voice that singled you out – for Christ’s sake, for our sake. Speaker 1 Long ago, a Servant of God, a saintly priest, loved you, Mary, and reflected on the meaning of that familiar prayer, the Hail Mary. We have learned from the scholars, told to us by Pope John Paul II, that the Scriptures are best translated Rejoice Mary. Today, we rejoice with you! Speaker 2 We rejoice in the Sacred Text. We rejoice in Sacred Tradition. We rejoice in the angel’s voice that singled you out – for Christ’s sake, for our sake. Speakers 1 & 2 Rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Music – (repeat Ave Maria) Speaker 3 [Text of Father Joseph Kentenich, excerpts] We call the Our Father the Lord's Prayer. But do we know that we have a prayer of the Holy Spirit, too? It is the AVE MARIA. (The HAIL MARY) Speaker 4 First the salutation. It is very short here in contrast to other prayers to the Mother of God. For example, in the Salve Regina there is a fivefold salutation:
-- Hail holy Queen, Yet in the AVE MARIA, in this beautiful prayer, there is only one single salutation: MARIA! We simply call Mary by her name. And in this name, all other titles are included. The theologians are still doing research for all that is included in the name Mary. They say:
Mary is all this together. Hence, all these invocations are included in the name. MARIA!" Speaker 3 Then there is the form of greeting: AVE! (Rejoice!)
Music Speaker 4 Now comes a title of honor
more beautiful than the other: GRATIA PLENAI (Full of grace!) When our dear Blessed Mother hears these two words perhaps she thinks of the most beautiful moment in her life when her heart was totally filled with magnificent gifts of grace. This was the certificate of endowment, so to speak, the gift certificate in which she received all spiritual goods most abundantly. Speaker 3 GRATIA PLENA! (Full of grace!) How beautiful the very first sunny day must have been -- the first sunny day when the sun shone for the first time and virginal Mother Earth stood there in splendor -- and, for the first time, storms and streams surged, while Adam the high priest held divine services for the first time! How beautiful it must have been on that first sunny day! Speaker 4 And yet the earth was only God’s footstool, the seam of his garment. God could have created an even more beautiful world. And he also created another world that couldn't be more beautiful. This world is Mary.
How did he equip this world (Mary),
negatively and positively? Any yet, if a mother were also permitted to remain a beautiful virgin in her youthful loveliness, it could be still more beautiful. But this isn't possible in this world. Only one single one was allowed this: MARIA! She was permitted to become a mother and at the same time to remain a virgin permanently. That is a second jewel which she received. We could still add: The GRATIA PLENA (the being filled with grace) is the Blessed Mother's canonization already during her lifetime. It is the fullness and harmony of God’s life within her. Music Speaker 1 DOMINUS TECUM! (The Lord is with you!) When we say these two words to our dear Lady, then we remind her once again of the most beautiful moment in her life, when she came into contact with her Divine Child for the first time. What the priest calls out to the faithful seven times as a wish during holy Mass, we say to our dear Blessed Mother not as a wish, but as fulfillment. We do not say: The Lord be with you. But rather: THE LORD IS WITH YOU! - DOMINUS TECUM! Speaker 2 That was the first holy Communion of the Mother of God. There she received Communion, but in a way different from ours.She entered into the most intimate community of flesh and blood imaginable. Won't our dear Lady be pleased if, in the Ave Maria, we remind her of the most beautiful moment when she joined together with her Divine Child for the first time? DOMINUS TECUM! (The Lord is with you!) Scripture tells us these are the angel's words of greeting. Music Speaker 3 Now Elizabeth continues with the titles of honor: BENEDICTA TU IN MULIERIBUS! (Blessed are you among women!) In some writings these words are also placed on the lips of the angel. (This means) they would have been spoken twice. But our Scriptures tell us Elizabeth actually said them. Let us place ourselves into the situation at that time. A virgin who has scarcely blossomed stands there -- and an old woman, advanced in years, says: YOU ARE THE FIRST AMONG ALL WOMEN! She places the young girl at the peak of womankind. It will always happen that women try to outdo each other. But Mary outdoes all others. She is simply the ideal of womanhood. One cannot go higher than Mary. Listen to the first Marian hymn: BENEDICTA TU IN MULIERIBUS! (Blessed are you among women!) Music Speaker 4 Elizabeth's words were also the first adoration of the Savior! ET BENEDICTUS FRUCTUS VENTRIS TUI, JESUS! (And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!) The first to adore the Savior were not the shepherds, not the Wise Men. Elizabeth was the first adorer. Till then, no one knew about the great mystery that had taken place shortly beforehand, not even the holy St. Joseph, since an angel first had to be sent to him by God. Only Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, had all the connections made clear. And after she had sung the Marian hymn, she called out: Not only you but also the fruit of your womb is blessed! That was the first adoration: And blessed is the fruit of your womb. Here, Jesus and Mary both are woven into one. And then we add the name: Jesus. That is the first part of the Ave Maria. Music Speaker 1 The second part is the petition. Therefore, once again an address, a salutation. And here there is a double address: HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD! PRAY FOR US! We do it like it's done in a small family. If someone needs something, one usually prefers to go to the mother rather than to the father. The mother has to ask until the father says yes. How many petitions have women already made in State and Church! If someone wants to achieve something, one puts a woman behind it. How many death sentences have women hindered! So it is in supernature, too. We simply go to Mother and say to her she should tell it to the Father. We tell her simply and plainly: PRAY FOR US! Speaker 2 From our thousands upon thousands of concerns we take out the two most important: The now and the hour of death. These are the two most important moments in life. Music Speaker 1 The present moment is the most important. The past moment is already gone, and who can tell me that a "later" will be given to me? Only the moment is mine. How quickly the now vanishes! But nevertheless, every now remains forever. Every now will resurrect with us. Every now determines whether we will be either on the right or on the left. We should therefore consider it of great importance to live from one day to the next, from sacrifice of the Mass to sacrifice of the Mass. Speaker 2 We have to consider the now important. Then, let come what may! Let us ask our Blessed Mother about things. She will always help us. When Clemens Maria Hofbauer had nothing left, he knocked on the tabernacle and said: Savior, come and help now, it's high time! This is how we have to do it with our dear Lady, too. She will always help. We have to have the heroism of confidence. Therefore: Now! The whole heroism of confidence must be contained in that one little word. Music Speaker 3 Then, in the prayer, the little hour of death comes. If you come to the bedside of someone who is dying, then you know that this is an important moment. Actually, dying as such is not so bad. One no longer feels the physical pain so strongly when consciousness has already faded. But what comes on the other side, that is important! Everything depends on whether or not that goes well. Then it is truly the best thing when a mother arrives and says: Come, I will help you over the threshold! Speaker 4 And we have such a mother in Mary. We will cross over well because the Blessed Mother is our mother. We all know about the practice of dying, and we want to do it every time we pray the Ave Maria: NUNC ET IN HORA MORTIS NOSTRAE. (Now and at the hour of our death. And then the dear Mother of God will gladly help us toward a blissful end. Amen. Music Speaker 1 Yes, Mary, we honor you – woman and companion of the ages. We call you woman with your Divine Son (John 2,4), woman who knows our needs and will speak to the Lord for us. Speaker 2 Woman who tells us to do what he tells us to do (John 2,5). Speaker 3 We call you mother, for he told us you are our mother (John 19,27). And with John we take you into our own home and into our hearts. Speaker 4 Together we honor your name. Together with Christians of the ages, we pray the words of Scripture and ask you to pray for us: All present Hail (or Rejoice) Mary, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. [This presentation has been edited for the web by M. Jean Frisk, Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary.]
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