The three Hail Marys Devotion is a powerful way to combat mortal sin, as Dr. Michael Fonseca explains in Episode 1 of Making Great Saints here. By asking for the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, we can become free of mortal sin and thereby free to do God’s will in our lives.
Join along in praying the Three Hail Marys Devotion with Dr. Michael Fonseca in this video below. You can also listen using any major podcast apps or the Buzzsprout audio below.
About the Three Hail Marys Devotion
The devotion of praying three Hail Marys daily is connected to St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn, a German Benedictine nun, to whom Our Lady revealed a way of lifting up a prayer of thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity for the privileges granted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Mechtilde was born in 1241 into a noble family. One day, while thinking about her own death, she fervently begged the Mother of God to help her during the last moments of her life. In response, Our Blessed Mother said to her: “Yes, I will; but I want you, on your part, to pray three Hail Marys to me each day. With the first, you will ask that, just as God the Father raised me up to a throne of glory without equal, making me the most powerful creature in heaven and on earth, so too I may assist you on earth to strengthen you and drive away from you every power of the enemy. With the second Hail Mary, you will ask that, just as the Son of God filled me with wisdom to such an extent that I have more knowledge of the Holy Trinity than all the Saints, so too may I help you during the last moments of your life, filling your soul with the light of faith and of true wisdom, so that the shadows of error and ignorance may not darken it. With the third, you will ask that, just as the Holy Spirit filled me with the sweetness of His love, and has made me so loving, that, after God, I am the sweetest and most merciful, so also may I help you at the hour of your death, filling your soul with such gentleness of divine love that all the sorrow and bitterness of your death may be changed for you into delight.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary promised St. Mechtilde that whoever would pray three Hail Marys every day, would receive her help during life and her special assistance at the moment of death. Other saints were special promoters of this devotion, such as St. Gertrude the Great, St. Alphonsus Marie de Liguori, St. John Bosco who suggested it to young people, and St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina who said that many would convert just by practicing this devotion.
How to Pray the Three Hail Marys:
Mary, my Mother, by the power granted you by the Eternal Father, free me from falling into mortal sin. Hail Mary…
By the wisdom granted you by the Son, free me from mortal sin. Hail Mary…
By the love granted you by the Holy Spirit, free me from mortal sin. Hail Mary…
Conclude with a Glory Be… and a brief prayer: “Mary, by your Immaculate Conception, purify my body and sanctify my soul.”
(This prayer was granted an indulgence by St. Pius X.)
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