The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 8: Full of Grace

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

As we pray the rosary, we can focus on the words of the prayers we’re saying, especially the words of the Hail Mary. Fr. Mark-Mary explains the Biblical roots of the Hail Mary, leading us in a meditation of love for Mary. Today’s focus is “Hail Mary, full of grace,” and we will be praying one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mayer with Franciscan friars of Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast. We're through prayer and meditation. The Rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Mary. It becomes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is day eight. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosary in a year or text, R-I-Y-Y. To 3-3-7-7.

You'll get an outline of how we're going to pray each month. month and it's great way to track of progress. The best place to listen to the podcast is in the Ascension app. Their special features built just for this podcast and also recordings of the full rosary with myself and other friars. On behalf of myself and the team here at Ascension we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped support this podcast financially. Your support is so appreciated and helps us to reach as many people as possible. And if you haven't already, please consider supporting us at ascensionpress.com forward slash support. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with

So we're entering into day one of phase two of rosary in the year podcast called the biblical roots of the rosary. And so what we'll be doing is taking, for example, the different prayers that we say when we're praying the rosary and slowly work through them. Either they are scripture or we'll root them in scripture. And then we'll go on to the particular scripture passages appropriate to the different mysteries and just spend some time working through these and reflecting on them. So the approach that we'll be taking is I'm going to to begin each episode, read part of the prayer or the article of the creed, et cetera, that we're going to be reflecting on for that day.

And then I'll propose a scripture passage that is going to be sort of the lens to begin the conversation. At the end of each episode, we're going to be building up our prayer muscle. So at the end of each episode for this phase, we'll say the son on the cross, and then we'll pray in our Father, three Hail Mary's, and a Glory Bee, and close the episode for the day. we'll cover the Hail Mary over the next three episodes beginning today with Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee and these words of course come from the mystery that we know of as the enunciation these are the words spoken in greeting by the angel Gabriel to the

Blessed Virgin Mary hail full of grace the Lord is with thee an angel is a messenger of God and the message that the angel carries isn't their own message. It's the message that God gave them to carry. And Hail Mary full of grace, it's a greeting, right? But it's not just Gabriel's greeting. It's God's greeting. And this is how God wants to greet Mary. And I'll propose, this is how he wants us to come to Mary. And this is confirmed by the Catechism, paragraph 2676. The greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. And in praying, reflecting with this in preparation for this episode, a light bulb went on. And I thought it was pretty neat.

And so I'm going to share it with you. Where does the Our Father come from? God teaches us. Jesus teaches us the Our Father. He teaches us. He teaches us. He teaches us. us what words to say. He teaches us how to approach the Father. The Hail Mary, these opening words, also are words that God gave us. And as Jesus, as the Our Father, the Lord's prayer teaches us how to come to the Father, how to approach the Father. God teaches us how to approach Mary. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord. Lord is with thee. And I just found this really beautiful. What we're doing here is we are greeting the Blessed Mother. And we're greeting her with God's own words. And the Hail Mary and all of these

prayers are so rich. And there's no way we can do them justice in just one episode or a couple of days, etc. If you want to really unpack the theological meaning of the words full of grace, the Lord is withy, I'd really recommend you check out Pope John Paul the Seconds encyclical letter Redempt Torres Mott there. There's a couple of paragraphs there. It's free. You can find on the Vatican website. And he offers a really rich theological discussion on what these words mean. And for our purposes, I'm going to lead us to approach these words and to reflect upon them in a way which I think is going to best serve us in our praying of the rosary. And so I'm going to pull it from Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter on the Most Holy Rosary. This is paragraph 26. referring to the method of the rosary, he says this. It is a method based on repetition. This applies above all to the Hail Mary, repeated ten times in each mystery.

If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the rosary is thought of is an outpouring of that love, which tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content, but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them. And I think this is so beautiful and offers us such a really particular focus of prayer,

particularly this day, as we're approaching the Blessed Mother in prayer. and we're speaking these words hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee we're going to be continuing these words again and again and we are greeting her with ever new love ever new affection ever new confidence ever new joy hail mary i love you mother you're beautiful mother full of of grace, you are full of grace, mother, and where I'm lacking, pour upon me your grace. The Lord is with thee. Give me again, your son. Give me a greater love of your son. Give me more of your son. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. The content, the form, the words, they don't change, but the affection is ever new. The love is ever new. And so, my friends,

this is the invitation for you this day. Let us slow down. Let us slow down. Let Let us focus just on this part of the Hail Mary, just these words of greeting that God has given to us. And let us approach her again and again with an outpouring of love, which tirelessly returns to the person loved. And so let us pray, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our Father, who art in heaven, How loat be thy name, thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen. 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. 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.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are 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. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, friends, thanks for joining me again today. I was just, yeah, really moved, praying. And hopefully you were as well as we just greet the Blessed Mother with great love, the love that she deserves. And I look forward to continuing this journey again with you tomorrow. Poco a Poco. All right, bye, friends.