Hi, I'm Edwards Sari, and welcome to all things Catholic, where real faith meets real life.

Have you ever pondered the amazing power found in the opening word of the Hail Mary?

We say the Hail Mary all the time as Catholics, especially in the

rosary, but I don't think most of us really realize how powerful that opening word is, that word,

hail. You know, we may think about, okay, Mary's name is important, full of grace, that's theological,

blessed among women, she's uniquely blessed, that's amazing, right? But most of us probably haven't given

much thought to that first word, hail. We think of it as just an ordinary greeting. It's like

hello or salutations. But when we greet Mary with this word in the Hail Mary, do you realize

that we're using the same word that the archangel Gabriel used to greet her.

Now, think about this. This is the great archangel Gabriel. He's the angel sent for important

messages. And I'm sure he gave a lot of thought to how he wanted to address Mary. And he chose

this particular word for a reason. And what we'll see is that if we explore the biblical background of

this word and what it really means, it's an invitation to joy. It's an invitation to trust God

in times of trial and darkness and emptiness. It's a word that casts out fear. Do you want to

cast out fear in your life? Do you want to grow in

greater confidence and trust in the Lord? Do you want to grow in greater joy in your life?

Then you want to pray the opening word of the Hail Mary with ever greater reverence and experience

its saving power. That opening word is hail. Now, why is this word so

important? How do we see the great significance of this opening word of the Hail Mary? That's what we're

going to look at in this week's podcast. So welcome to all things Catholic. I'm your host, Edward

Sri. And here we are in the middle of Advent. It's December, and most places of the country here in the United

States are cold, but I want to talk about the hot summer for a moment here. I want you to think

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