Apostleship of Prayer
Questions and Answers Number Seventy.
The Hail Mary of a Protestant.
(A true story)A little six-year old Protestant boy had often heard his Catholic companions reciting the prayer “Hail Mary’. He liked it so much that he copied it, memorized it and would recite it every day. “Look, Mommy, what a beautiful prayer,” he said to his mother one day.
“Never again say it,” answered the Mother. “It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think Mary a goddess. After all, she is a woman like any other. Come on, take this Bible and read it. It contains everything that we are bound to and have to do.” From that day on the little discontinued his daily “Hail Mary’ and gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead.
One day, while reading the Gospel of St. Luke, he came across the passage about the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full of joy, the little boy ran to h is mother and said: “Mommy, I have found the “Hail Mary” in the Bible which says: “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed are thou amongst women”. Why do you call it a superstitious prayer?”
On another occasion he found the beautiful salutation of Elizabeth to Mary and the wonderful canticle, the Magnificat in which Mary foretold that “the generations would call her blessed.”
He said no more about it to his mother but started to recite the “Hail Mary” every day as before. He felt pleasure in addressing those charming words to the Mother of Jesus.
When he was fourteen, he, one day, heard a discussion on Our Lady among the members of his family. Everyone said that Mary was a common woman like any other woman. The boy, after listening to their erroneous reasoning could not bear it any longer, and, full of indignation, he interrupted them saying: “Mary is not like any other children of Adam, stained with sin. No! The angel called her full of grace and blessed amongst women. Mary is the Mother of Jesus and hence the Mother of God. There is no higher dignity to which a creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which you proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion.’
So deep was the impression which the boy’s talk had made that his mother many times cried our sorrowfully: “Oh my God! I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of the Popes!” And indeed, not long afterwards, having made a serious study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found the latter to be the only true religion and embraced it and became one of its ardent apostles.Some time after his conversion, he met his married sister who rebuked him and said indignantly: “You little know how much I love my children. Should any one of them desire to become a Catholic, I would sooner piece his heart with a dagger than allow him to embrace the Catholic religion!”
Her anger and temper were as furious as those of Paul before his conversion. However, she would change her ways, just as Paul did on his way to Damascus. It so happened that one of her sons fell dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery. Her brother then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying: “My dear sister, you naturally wish to have your son cured. Very well, then, do what I ask you to d. Follow me, let us pray one “Hail Mary” and promise God that, if your son recovers his health, you would seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you would embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be.”
His sister was somewhat reluctant at the beginning, but as she wished her son’s recovery, she accepted her brother’s proposal and recited the “Hail Mary” together with him. The next day her son was completely cured. The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic doctrine. After long preparation she received Baptism together with her whole family, thanking her brother being an apostle to her.
The story was related by Fr. Tuckwell during one of his sermons. He went on to say that the boy in the story is the priest who is speaking to them now.
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