("Hail Mary") [English]

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.

("Ave Maria") [Latin]

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

(Eastern Catholic / Orthodox Version) [English]

O Theotokos and Virgin, rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls. Amen.

Commentary: The Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria (Latin) is a traditional biblical Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is used within the Catholic Church, and it forms the basis of the Rosary. The prayer is also used by some Anglicans as well as by many other groups within the Western Catholic tradition of Christianity. A somewhat different form of the prayer that omits the explicit request for intercession is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches and other groups of Eastern Christianity. Some Protestant denominations, such as Lutherans, also make use of some form of the prayer. Most of the text of the Hail Mary can be found within the Gospel of Luke. (Cf. Lk. 1:26-29, 38; Mt. 1:18-25; Is. 7:10-14, 8:10)

The greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. The grace with which Mary is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace.  Mary is Mother of God and our mother. We can entrust all our cares and petitions to her. She prays for us as she prayer for herself: "Let it be done to me according to your word."  By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her. Our trust broadens further to surrender "the hours of our death" wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her Son's Death on the Cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passion to lead us to her Son, Jesus, in paradise. (Handbook of Prayers; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2676-2677)