Hail Mary During Mass

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Hi! I’ve been going to daily mass on my way to work and we have prayed the Hail Mary or the Memorarae several times during the mass at the end of the prayers of the faithful. While I understand that anytime we honor the Blessed Mother or the saints, we are glorifying God, I have a couple of questions:
  1. Is this permitted? I have never seen it before.
  2. We know that Mary always points us to Christ and the Saints do as well, but if a Protestant were at mass with me and we prayed the Hail Mary and the homily was more about the Saint of the Day than the mass readings, how would we respond to their accusations of Mary ‘worship’ or saint ‘worship’ when we know the mass is really Christ centered?
 
From the GIRM:

"The Prayer of the Faithful
69. In the Prayer of the Faithful, the people respond in a certain way to the word of God which they have welcomed in faith and, exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all. It is fitting that such a prayer be included, as a rule, in Masses celebrated with a congregation, so that petitions will be offered for the holy Church, for civil authorities, for those weighed down by various needs, for all men and women, and for the salvation of the whole world.67
  1. As a rule, the series of intentions is to be:
For the needs of the Church;
For public authorities and the salvation of the whole world;
For those burdened by any kind of difficulty;
For the local community.

Nevertheless, in a particular celebration, such as Confirmation, Marriage, or a Funeral, the series of intentions may reflect more closely the particular occasion.
  1. It is for the priest celebrant to direct this prayer from the chair. He himself begins it with a brief introduction, by which he invites the faithful to pray, and likewise he concludes it with a prayer. The intentions announced should be sober, be composed freely but prudently, and be succinct, and they should express the prayer of the entire community.
The intentions are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place, by the deacon or by a cantor, a lector, or one of the lay faithful.68

The people, however, stand and give expression to their prayer either by an invocation said together after each intention or by praying in silence."

While it seems to me that the prayers of the faithful are supposed to be somewhat impromptu, or at least specific prayers for specific intentions, I don’t think that praying a Hail Mary or Memorare at the end of them asking for Mary’s special intercession for the previous intentions is out of line with what the prayers are supposed to be for. As long as that’s not the only thing being done, I’d say it’s OK…
 
As for accusations of “Mary worship”, I’d point out that we are praying to God for certain special intentions, and we’re asking Mary, who is right there beside Him in Heavan to intercede for us, just like she did for the guests at the wedding at Cana.
 
I’m not really sure whether or not it’s allowed there. It seems to be something that happens at more conservative parishes. As to what you say to a protestant friend who is there with you, it’s no different than any other time they accuse us of worshipping Mary and the saints: we venerate them. We do not regard them as God. Only God is God. Mary and the saints are examples of how to live a holy life. The mass is a sacrifice to God. It is constant prayer to God. If the homily is about the life of a saint, that is only because the saint’s life instructs us as to how to live a Christian life, which is the reason for homilies in the first place. I’m sure that protestants hear stories during their sermons. The life of a saint is like an inspirational story, except that it really happened, and it’s a holy person who has gone on to heaven before us. When we ask for the saints to pray for us, that is not altogether different than protestants asking their friends to pray for them, except that the saints are holy people who have gone before us to heaven and are already in a state of perpetual prayer. And if you pray the Hail Mary, it is the same. Mary is in a constant state of prayer. You don’t ask Mary to grant your wishes; you ask her to “pray for us sinners.” Explain that it’s like when he asks the people in his prayer group to pray for him, except that Mary is in heaven in a state of constant prayer. She’s still praying for you, not granting the request herself. She asks God. Of course we ask God too, but she asks for us, just as friends can pray for us.
 
Please keep any discussion regarding “Mary worship” strictly within the context of the Mass as laomath asked. All discussion about veneration of the saints and the communion of saints should be discussed in the Apologetics forum. Thank you all. 🙂
 
Jean_Anthony said:
Please keep any discussion regarding “Mary worship” strictly within the context of the Mass as laomath asked. All discussion about veneration of the saints and the communion of saints should be discussed in the Apologetics forum. Thank you all. 🙂
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With all due respect, Jean, I was answering his second question. It was part of the OP. Perhaps the thread should be moved to a different forum? It sort of bridges two fora, though.
 
At my parish we consistently do this. The particular intention is almost always for Mary to intercede in life issues. Our pastor has a particular devotion to Mary under the title “Mother of Life” so it makes sense.

On a related note, we have a priest visiting who has worked extensively with police groups in the past. He always adds an intention for police, firefighters, etc. I really like that he reminds us to pray for them.

We have had protestants at Mass with us who were quite suprised at us praying the Hail Mary. We explained the origin of the prayer (scripture) and something similar to what FrancisB said, they were mollified and stopped thinking of us as crzy cultists! 😃
 
In a similar line to what FrancisB said, since the saints (including Mary) have preceded us to heaven, their prayers have the perfection that ours lack - since they have been perfected. Therefore, asking them during the Mass, which is THE prayer of the Church, to unite their prayers with ours, is simply relying on them to supply through prayer for any deficiencies in our prayer. As Catholics, we don’t look at the saints as some far off, ancient people - they’re just as much apart of the Church as we are - more so in fact since their wills are truly in perfect union with God’s Will. Our inclusion of them in the Mass is not worshiping them, it’s exactly the same thing as turning to one’s neighbor in the pew and asking him or her to join you in prayer. 😃
 
laomath said:
Hi! I’ve been going to daily mass on my way to work and we have prayed the Hail Mary or the Memorarae several times during the mass at the end of the prayers of the faithful. While I understand that anytime we honor the Blessed Mother or the saints, we are glorifying God, I have a couple of questions:
  1. Is this permitted? I have never seen it before.
Click to expand...
If you are only referring to yesterday’s daily Mass ( September 8) it is understandable that frequent prayers to the Blessed Virgin were said. After all, it was the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 
At my parish after the priest has ended the mass, but before the closing hymn, the priest leads the parish with the “Hail, Holy Queen” followed by “Saint Joseph, pray for us”. We have statues of the Holy Family mounted on the wall on the left side of the Church. Sometimes, the traditional version of “Salve Regina” is sung after the solemn Mass, but not the children’s Mass. I admit, I still haven’t picked up the words or the tune. I need to hear it a few more times. :highprayer:

I like it.
 
laomath said:
Hi! I’ve been going to daily mass on my way to work and we have prayed the Hail Mary or the Memorarae several times during the mass at the end of the prayers of the faithful. While I understand that anytime we honor the Blessed Mother or the saints, we are glorifying God, I have a couple of questions:
  1. Is this permitted? I have never seen it before.
  2. We know that Mary always points us to Christ and the Saints do as well, but if a Protestant were at mass with me and we prayed the Hail Mary and the homily was more about the Saint of the Day than the mass readings, how would we respond to their accusations of Mary ‘worship’ or saint ‘worship’ when we know the mass is really Christ centered?
Click to expand...
If the priest says the Hail Mary during Mass, its permitted. We experience the Hail Mary sais duing the Masses on EWTN. If PROTESTANT STILLS THINKS WE WORSHIP STATUES and the Mother of
God, I doubt that he would go to Mass with you during the day anyway. Ask the guy, just what do you thing gave us all of these things, something our of space, it is THE MOTHER OF GOD, THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.:):)🙂
 
I attend a parish where we make a habit of praying the Hail Mary after the Prayers of the Faithful. We do this so that our prayers are amplified by the petitions of Mary to her Son. It’s interesting to note that Martin Luther himself said this on Marian intercession:

“Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honoured? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent’s head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing.” (Martin Luther’s Works, English translation edited by J. Pelikan [Concordia: St. Louis], Volume 51, 128-129.)

A lot of anti-Catholics seem to ignore the wisdoms of Martin Luther on this matter in particular.
 
johnXXIII said:
If the priest says the Hail Mary during Mass, its permitted. We experience the Hail Mary sais duing the Masses on EWTN. If PROTESTANT STILLS THINKS WE WORSHIP STATUES and the Mother of
God, I doubt that he would go to Mass with you during the day anyway. Ask the guy, just what do you thing gave us all of these things, something our of space, it is THE MOTHER OF GOD, THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.:):)🙂
Click to expand...
I would recommend caution against the wisdom that just because the priest does it, it’s correct. That’s not to say it isn’t allowed; I don’t know. What I do know, though, is the fact that a priest does something at mass does not in and of itself make the action appropriate to the mass, regardless of his personal piety. There are rules about such things; I’m just not sure what the rules are regarding this if it is done with the prayer of the faithful, which by its very nature changes.
 
My understanding is that the congregation saying the Hail Mary in Mass is not permitted. As I wrote in this 2007 thread, forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=158790 .

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“71. … The intentions are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place, by the deacon or by a cantor, a lector, or one of the lay faithful.
The people, however, stand and give expression to their prayer either by an invocation said together after each intention or by praying in silence.”

Saying the Hail Mary at the end is not “an invocation said together after each intention”.

From the GIRM “138. … After the intentions, the priest, with hands extended, concludes the petitions with a prayer.” So straight from intentions to a prayer by the priest. No provision for a Hail Mary or any other prayer said by everyone.

“139. When the Prayer of the Faithful is completed, all sit, and the Offertory chant begins (cf. above, no. 74).” So people sit to sing. Maybe the song could have the words of the Hail Mary.

Having the congregation say the Hail Mary (or any other prayer which is not said after each intention) during the Prayer of the Faithful is not following the GIRM.

Today I have looked up the 2001 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, which (a large document at vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html ) which has:
“*Distinct from and in harmony with the Liturgy *
13. The objective difference between pious exercises and devotional practices should always
be clear in expressions of worship. Hence, the formulae proper to pious exercises should not
be commingled with the liturgical actions. Acts of devotion and piety are external to the
celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and of the other sacraments.”
 
If they can’t handle the Hail Mary, they are never going to handle the fact that we worship a little bit of bread.

it is their problem if they are unable to understand true Christianity. Accuse them of worshiping the Bible then and they will realise how foolish they are being.
 
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