A Little Bird

Ave Maria

Hail Mary, full of grace, 

the Lord is with thee;

blessed art thou among women.  

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

For my second prayer, I have chosen the Hail Mary. It is one of my favorite prayers, right up there with the Our Father and Glory Be. :) I find myself saying this prayer more and more these days and it always seems to help me in one way or another. It is a beautiful prayer and comes, for the most part, right from the bible. The part at the end that says, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." is the part that is not in the bible. It is one of the main prayers of the Rosary and is very powerful. I have heard several different times that if you want to deepen your relationship with God and start praying daily, you should start simply by saying one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory be. Doing this has helped me with my daily prayers a lot. I would always try to start by doing something like a daily rosary or other devotion and since it was not something I already had a habit of doing, it was far too easy for me to just forget about it or not do it. But once I started trying to say just these three little prayers everyday, it seemed to become easier to build up to doing other prayers and devotions. Something my husband says is, "It's a process." which is kind of like saying, you have to walk the road to get where you want to be. Once I get it in my head to do something I want to get it done as soon as possible, but there are always things that need to be done to prepare before I can get the results I want. I am still learning that God works in the best time. He knows best what I need and when I am ready to receive it.
I am still working on being consistent with my daily prayers and being open to where God is leading me. I am sorry to say I get in the way too often. So, Mary our Mother, Pray for me!

Here is the Hail Mary in a couple different languages. (I like how beautiful it sounds in other languages too. :)

Latin 

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.
Sancta Maria mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen

French

Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce.
Le Seigneur est avec vous.
Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,
et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni.
Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,
Priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort.
Amen

Spanish

Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia,
el Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros, pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amen

Italian

Ave Maria, piena di grazia,
il Signore è con te.
Tu sei benedetta fra le donne
e benedetto è il frutto del tuo seno, Gesú.
Santa Maria, Madre di Dio,
prega per noi peccatori,
adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte.
Amen