Aside from the “Our Father,” the “Greetings, O favored one” is the most used prayer among Roman-Catholic believers. The text opens with the words with which the angel greeted Mary and continues with what Elizabeth said to Mary. In this form, this prayer has been part of the church liturgy since the tenth century, but with the prayer of supplication at the end, which the one praying prays directly to Mary, added later, in the sixteenth century:

Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you, you are the one blessed among women, and blessed is Jesus, the fruit of your womb. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ave Maria⤒🔗

During the mass, the Latin version is usually used, the Ave Maria; some believers also prefer to use this as their personal prayer. This version was most commonly set to music, and that in a broad musical spectrum ranging from a classical composer such as Palestrina to a pop artist such as Beyonce.

The announcement of Mary’s pregnancy brought by Gabriel is remembered on the Roman Catholic feast day called the “Annunciation”, or often “Announcement of the Lord,” known as Mary’s Conception. This feast is held on March 25, precisely nine months before Christmas.

Maidservant of the Lord←⤒🔗

Favoured how (Luke 1:28)? Not that Mary herself was in any way exceptional. She was a believing young woman, according to Jewish-Christian tradition, the only daughter of Joachim and Anna, as mentioned in the Proto-gospel of Jacob, a writing from the second century. In thankfulness for an end to their being barren, they decided, when Mary was three, to dedicate her to God in the temple, just as the little Samuel was brought to the temple by Elkana and Hannah. (1 Samuel 1:21-28; 2:11). A priest said to the little girl, “The LORD will show his salvation to the children of Israel in you.” Mary stayed there with the priests until she was twelve. Then a casting of the lot among widowers, points out Joseph as the one who will take the “maidservant of the Lord” into his care. Joseph felt that he was too old and besides, he already had sons. But the priests convinced Joseph of his task and Mary was married to him. In expectation of her wedding, she began to weave a curtain for the temple. While she was spinning — she was now sixteen — the angel came to announce her unusual pregnancy to her.

From this point on, the story is better known. The pregnant Mary goes to stay with family for three months, that is with Zachariah and Elizabeth. The same angel makes it clear to Joseph that he must not think of Mary in terms of adultery, but must take her into his protection. The Holy Spirit created the godly life in her womb, and her virginity remained intact. Also the name of the child was announced by Gabriel. When Joseph and Mary, at the command of Caesar Augustus, must let themselves be registered, they travel on a donkey — which is not mentioned in the Bible — to Bethlehem. There, somewhere, the announced child is born. The birth takes place in a cave, still according to this non-canonical but respectable tradition.

Icon: Annunciation to the Mother of God: 17^th century Russia

The icon is found in the collection of the icon museum in Kampen. To the left, we see the archangel Gabriel, who raises his right hand in greeting and blessing at the same time. As the messenger from God, he carries a staff, an idea derived from the messenger staff of the courier of the gods Mercury/Hermes. To the right, the Mother of God rises from her seat, where she sat spinning wool in front of the veil of the temple. She respectfully bows her head. In the background two buildings represent the Old and New Testament. In many icons of the Annunciation to the Mother of God, cloth is visible between the buildings. This indicates that the Annunciation took place inside and also symbolizes the progression from the Old to the New Covenant.

Motherhood←⤒🔗

Mary was thus a favored woman because her child was so special. What a blessing: to become the mother of God’s own Son! To carry a godly life for nine months, to give birth to the child who is called Jesus, to nurse him, change him, care for him, hug him, raise him. Mary’s motherhood exceeds the motherly pride of any other woman anywhere in the world. Rightly she expected many congratulations: “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:48-49).

Yet nowhere does it appear in the Bible that this motherhood gives Mary a priority position. Later it happens that a woman in the crowd around Jesus calls out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” This woman is apparently the first one who lauds Jesus’ mother as blessed. She sings, as it were, the first “Ave Maria.” Perhaps she would gladly have traded places with Mary. Jesus does not judge her but does correct her: that what she is saying is in a certain sense true; yet his mother’s greatest blessing is that she belongs to the circle of people who listen to God’s Word and live according to it (Luke 11:27-28). The most beautiful thing is not being allowed to be Jesus’ mother, or to belong to his family in any other manner, but to let yourself be brought to the Father through him. We find that listening attitude back in Acts 1, the last time Mary is mentioned in the New Testament. After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, his mother together with his brothers are part of the new congregation in Jerusalem waiting for the Spirit. Her name is specifically mentioned, but she is just one of the group.

Emblazoned←⤒🔗

As mother, Mary played a unique role in the history of salvation. Without her, Jesus would not have come into the world and would not have grown up. Because of her memories, we know what happened on the night of Christmas (Luke 2:19). It is not a wonder that she comes up in the devotions of peoples around the world. There is, however, no biblical reason to emblazon Mary’s name, for example by giving her titles such as queen of heaven, mother of life, or entry gate into heaven. The Roman Catholic church, in 1854, announced the dogma of Mary’s sinless conception: that she, just like Jesus, was born without sin. In 1950 it was established that she, just like Jesus, was bodily taken up to heaven. In this way Mary began to look more and more like her Son.

Against this background, we need to explain why the prayer “Greetings, O favored one” asks Mary to intercede for us, sinners. Mary would lead us to Christ, and Christ to God. In that sense, she is then a fellow redeemer and intercessor of all grace; Pope John Paul II spoke in these terms about Mary; his successor Benedict XVI was much more restrained on this point. However, any similar show of honor to the mother goes at the cost of the Son; Mary herself did not want that. She called herself God’s ‘humble … servant” (Luke 1:48). She presented herself as the servant of the Lord to whom it would happen according to God’s Word (Luke 1:38). In this way she was allowed to cooperate in the salvation work which God, through Jesus Christ, brought into the world. Her work was not to work salvation for sinners herself, so that we would go to Mary for help. She willingly placed herself, her body, her marriage, and her family life, in the service of God.

Mary, thus, stands on our side, beside all other sinners. Jesus makes it clear that his mother, brothers, and sisters do not take precedence over other disciples (Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21). At several moments, Jesus even had to distance himself from her; at those times he was more obedient to his heavenly Father than to his earthly mother (Luke 2:48-50; John 2:3; 19:26). Mary represents those who receive the godly grace in faith, for she received God’s Word, God’s Spirit and God’s Son.

Family Life←⤒🔗

Mary was a blessed woman, also in her family life. Together with Joseph, Mary had a family of at least five sons and two daughters. Besides Jesus there were James, Joseph or Joses, Simon, Judas, and the girls (Matthew 13:55-56; Mark 6:3). At Jesus’ family registry, the Bible clearly shows that there was something special in Jesus. In Matthew, Joseph is recorded as the father, but not as the begetter, of Jesus (Matthew 1:16), and therefore, according to Luke, it was “generally accepted” that Jesus was the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23). The eldest in this family was an exceptional child.

In order to spare Mary’s virginity, the idea arose that the other children were in fact half brothers and half sisters of Jesus, children out of a previous marriage of Joseph. Many viewed the terms brothers and sisters merely as an indication of close relationship, so that Mary never had conjugal relationships with Joseph, so she always remained a virgin. The Bible does not give that impression (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7). Even if Joseph was a widower with several sons, as the early Christian tradition reports, then he had, according to that same tradition, no daughters yet, and it may certainly not be declared certain that no more children were born out of his marriage with Mary.

Mary’s marriage ended with the death of Joseph. From his noteworthy absence at the marriage feast in Cana, where Jesus, as eldest son, accompanied his mother and performed his first miracles, the conclusion is usually drawn that Joseph was then, already, deceased (John 2:1-2). Mary thus became a widow, and following this, also lost her first-born son. The dying Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to his beloved disciple (John 19:26-27). Later, it is possible that Mary moved to Ephesus with John, but a stronger tradition says that she stayed in Jerusalem and also died there.

Mother of God←⤒🔗

It pleases them to call Mary “Mother of God” in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a title that already appears in the fourth century and thus is later also added to the “Greetings.” Different icons depict her in this way. Behind this is the conviction that Mary did not only bring the earthly Jesus into this world. He is also God. Mary became his mother; thus she is the mother of God. Her name received a place of honour in the Apostolic Confession of Faith, but it does not say, “I believe in Mary, who was allowed to become the mother of Jesus Christ.” It does say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, who was born from the virgin Mary.” All who confess this will call her blessed!