Three Hail Mary's a Day Keeps Mortal Sin Away

from Canterbury Tales by Taylor Marshall 

One of the greatest and most powerful Marian devotions is the practice of reciting three Hail Mary's every day in honor of the three Divine Persons of the Trinity and for the grace avoid all mortal sins, specifically sexual sins.

The Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary taught the "Three Hail Mary Devotion" to St. Mechtilde about the year 1270. It's rather simple. Pray the three Hail Mary's in honor of the Holy Trinity who lavished so many graces upon Mary and then end with: "O my Mother, preserve me this day (or night) from mortal sin."

The great doctor of the Church, Saint Anthony of Padua practiced the Three Hail Mary's devotion and exhorted others to do so, as well. The other great Franciscan missionary St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1675-1751) also openly exhorted his listeners to practice this devotion as a remedy against sexual sins.

The doctor of the Church St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, in his book The Glories of Mary, says the following about the devotion:

"Each morning and each night, when arising and when going to bed, say three Hail Mary's prostrate on the ground, or at least kneeling, and to each Hail Mary add the short aspiration: 'By thy pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.'

Pope Leo XIII later indulgenced the daily Three Hail Mary's. Why not add this easy and simply devotion to your spiritual tool belt.

And don't forget, the daily Holy Rosary is the greatest weapon you have against concupiscence, sin, and the devil.