Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: The Complete Prayer

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 our death. Amen.

When I started this endeavor of Looking Closer at the Hail Mary, I really had no idea how it would turn out. The plan was to have one word from the Hail Mary, (a total of 42 words), posted twice a week over 6 months, with reflections from 40 contributors.

It seemed both easy and impossible. It had the possibility to inspire, but the chance to bomb.

I asked a bunch of people, certain I would get a lot of negative responses. I didn’t. I was overwhelmed, in fact, with the positive responses of people with a lot already on their plates agreeing to the extra work.

I braced myself, expecting people to fail on me at the last minute, asking for an out. As it turned out, only one person had to decline, and then with plenty of notice.

Over the course of the last few months, as we’ve gone through my favorite prayer word by word, I’ve learned a lot.

I’ve learned that the Catholic blogosphere is as amazing as ever, that the Catholic writers I’ve gotten to know are as generous as ever, and that I’m not the only one who loves this little prayer.

I’ve learned that this prayer means different things to me every time I pray it. I’ve learned to slow down a bit, in prayer and in life, and examine things more closely.

In case you want to go back and revisit it, I’ve included the links above to each word. I’ll also list them below, organized first by word and then by author.

Organized by Word:

Hail | Mary | full | of | grace | the | Lord | is | with | thee | Blessed | art | thou | among | women | and | blessed | is (2) | the (2) | fruit | of (2) | thy | womb | Jesus | Holy | Mary | Mother | of (3) | God | pray | for | us | sinners | now | and (2) | at | the (3) | hour | of (4) | our | death | Amen.

Organized by Author:

• Melanie Betanelli - the
• Val Bianco - of
• Peggy Bowes - and
• Nancy Brown - with
• Michelle Buckman - Mother
• Carol Ann Chybowski - of
• Mrs. Darwin - our
• Julie Davis - thou
• Karen Edmisten - hour
• Karina Fabian - Holy
• Jennifer Fitz - women
• Deacon Tom Fox - Mary
• Mary Gildersleeve - the
• Pat Gohn - fruit
• Lisa Hendey - of
• Ellen Gable Hrkach - now
• Paula Huston - death
• Christine Johnson - is
• Maria Johnson - Blessed
• Shelly Kelly - of
• Susie Lloyd - the
• Kevin Lowry - womb
• Jeff Miller - among
• Lisa Mladinich - for
• Arwen Mosher - God
• Ginny Kubitz Moyer - and
• Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle - sinners
• Michelle Reitemeyer - blessed
• Dorian Speed - thy
• Daria Sockey - at
• Walt Staples - Jesus
• Mark Szewczak - is
• Barb Szyszkiewicz - Mary
• Miriel Thomas - pray
• Fr. Patrick Toner - Hail, Amen
• Fr. Jim Tucker - art
• Sarah Vabulas - us
• Brandon Vogt - Lord
• Kate Wicker - grace
• Jaymie Stuart Wolfe - full
• Jeff Young - thee