re: Once again...before I am banned...happy feast day of the Immaculate Conception!

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I ask you, my dear friend, to read carefully the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, verse 26 to verse 55. It is very hard to understand how any Christian can study this passage and then refuse to honor Mary. Why, the “Hail Mary,” which Catholics love to address to the Blessed Virgin, is explicitly given there; part of it was said by the angel Gabriel and part by Elizabeth. The angel was inspired by God and Elizabeth “was filled with the Holy Ghost” (v. 41). Let us put together the words that the angel Gabriel and Elizabeth addressed to Mary: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed are thou among women” (v. 28). “Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” Here we have the salutation that Catholics address to Mary. The only addition we have made are the two names, “Mary” and “Jesus.” So that, in saying the Hail, Mary, Catholics are explicitly following the Bible. I shall deal with the second part of this prayer presently.

You will notice, my dear friend, that Mary in that sublime canticle known as the Magnificat, which is recorded by the inspired writer from verse 46 to 55, declared: “Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (v. 48). Who, I ask, fulfills this prophecy: those who refuse to apply the adjective blessed to the Virgin Mary, or Catholics, who love to call Mary the Blessed Virgin?

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