In the gospel according to Luke, the angel Gabriel made a greeting to Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, with the words: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”- Luke 1: 28 (RSV). Making this greeting was the very first step towards the salvation of humankind! This is a direct scripture quoted in the prayer, adding the name ‘Mary’ after ‘Hail’, and we too greet Mother Mary with the same words. Satan obviously dislikes the greeting since he is continually reminded of his failure and God’s victory through the new Eve! ‘When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child’- Revelation 12: 13 (NAB)*. No wonder, Satan has always attacked Mary in all the generations of Church history and continues to do so even today.
‘And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”’- Luke 1: 41-42 (RSV). The words quoted in prayer are again directly from scripture. Thus Elizabeth became the first person to call Mary “Blessed”.
Having known the call to her vocation partially, despite the challenges of the time, Mary freely contributed to surrender her life to the will of God - “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”- Luke 1: 38 (RSV). This act of unconditional faith by Mary made Elizabeth call her “Blessed” the second time - “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”- Luke 1: 45 (NAB)
In her response of praise and thanksgiving, Mary said “for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed”- Luke 1: 48 (NRSV) Our Mother said that she will be called ‘Blessed’ by all generations from that point on. In fact we see the fulfillment of the same in that generation itself. During Jesus’ preaching a woman from the crowd said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed”- Luke 11: 27 (NAB) She well deserved to be called blessed not just because she bore and nursed Jesus as her Son- but also for the real fact that Jesus further emphasizes- that she “heard the Word of God and observed it” (Luke 11: 28) evident through her words “let it be to me according to your word”- Luke 1: 38b (RSV) Bearing Jesus in her womb and nursing him was the proof of the fulfillment of her surrender. What began in that generation has continued ever since.
Again we see context is lost in Roman Catholicism.
27While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”
28But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Luke 11:24-28 NASB