There are times that you will hear a challenge come your way such as “You Catholics worship Mary, saying all of those Hail Mary’s”.  You can start out defending the faith by this response:

God said to the Archangel Gabriel “Go down to earth, to a tiny town called Nazareth, and find my tiny little creature named Mary.  Then announce to her that she will give birth to the Messiah.”  So Gabriel appears to Mary and he says ” Hail Full of Grace, the Lord is with You.”  So if a pure being such a Gabriel who existed before the earth and universe can come down from Heaven and address Mary in this manner, well then us sinners should do likewise.  Because this is how God feels about Mary, and would expect the same from us, that in essence is honoring God’s wishes.  Hail Full of Grace, she is completely undefiled.  The next part of the Hail Mary prayer brings you to another scripture, where Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit and goes to see her cousin Elizabeth who is also with child (John the Baptist).  Elizabeth had no idea Mary was pregnant until she arrived at Elizabeth’s home.  That is where scripture tells us that Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit says to Mary “Blessed are you among women, and Blessed is the Fruit of your womb!”  Elizabeth addressed her “The Mother of my Lord.”  Mary says that her soul is magnified with the Lord and that all generations shall call her blessed.  The center of the prayer we say “Jesus”, because the entire prayer is about Jesus coming into the world to us in flesh.  The last part of the Hail Mary we ask Mary the Holy Mother of God to pray for us, to intercede for us so that we may be filled with Christ and His grace. 

At the wedding in Cana, the wine ran out.  Mary tells Jesus because she knows her Son can fix the problem, he is God incarnate.  Jesus says “Woman it is not my time yet.”  Meaning for His public ministry.  After looking into His Mother’s eyes (You shall honor your Father and Mother), He cannot say no to her.  The same thing applies to us now, Jesus cannot say no to His Mother.  So when we ask Mary to intercede for us, she is the way to His heart.