***You are correct that there is no commandment to seek Mary's intercession in order to gain salvation, merely to "behold" her as mother. Accordingly, one can be a good Catholic and never say a Hail Mary.***
I wish it were so simple, but that is not Catholic teaching...
St. Bonaventure says Mary is called "the Gate of Heaven because no one can enter that blessed Kingdom without passing through her."
St. John Damascene had no hesitancy in addressing our Lady in these words: "Pure and Immaculate Queen, save me, and deliver me from eternal damnation.
St. Bonaventure called Mary the salvation of those who invoke her.
Cassian tells us, without qualification, that "the whole salvation of the human race depends on the great favor and protection of Mary." Whoever is protected by Mary will be saved; whoever is not will be lost.
Richard of St. Lawrence had good reason for saying: " As a stone falls into the abyss when the ground goes from under it, so a person deprived of Mary's help falls first into sin and then into Hell."
St. Bonaventure says: "God will not save us without the intercession of Mary."
And again: " A child cannot live without a nurse to suckle it; neither can a person be saved without the protection of Mary."
And St. Germanus exclaims: "No one, O most holy Mary, can know God but through you. No one can be saved or redeemed but through you, O Mother of God. No one obtains mercy but through you, O full of all grace! . . .
Over against all this speculation we have the clear words of Scripture...
"if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
Rom 10
All these sayings are true and not mutualy contradictory. Mary is the Mother of God who intercedes for you whether you say Hail Mary or not; no prayer to Mary is part of the Catholic rubrics, although she is, of course, mentioned during the liturgy.
""if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
Very good. That's a Baptismal creed of the Early Church.
Baptism opens the door to salvation, correct?
I hope you didn't misinterpret that to mean by merely saying the above words, that I can be saved? Because Jesus Himself says in Matthew 7:21-22 something that would contradict that idea...
Regards
This kind of language is common in Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism. Both, for example, employ short prayers like "Most Holy Theotokos, save us." They understand this to mean the kind of "saving" one human can do for another. When you see your fellow man in a pit, you can save him by pulling him up. Or if he is drowning, you save him by throwing him a life preserver. This is a legitimate use of the word "save", and I'm glad the EO and E Catholics continue to speak of the Theotokos this way without caving in to the sensitive and tender ears of protestants.