The words of a prayer are the first that I speak
When I visit a woman who is poor and meek.
I tell her not to fear, then tell her God’s Plan:
She’ll give birth to a boy who’ll become a great man.
Son of God he’ll be called and Son of the Most High –
I wait for her answer. She agrees, “Here am I.”
Who am I?
The Angel Gabriel!
The angel Gabriel is a messenger of God. He appears to both Zechariah and to Mary to reveal part of God’s Plan to them.
His first words to Mary are “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” Greetings = Hello! or Hail! Favoured one = one whom God has favoured = given his grace freely to = full of grace. Some translations of the ancient Greek make this more obvious, but this is where we get the beginning of the prayer to Mother Mary: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. When we pray, we are quoting holy scripture, the Word of God.