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Hail, Mary!

Hail, Mary!

Last updated on: December 3, 2025 at 11:18 am by Dan Peterson

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Hail, Mary! 2025-12-03T11:18:04-07:00 Dan Peterson

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The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1978 (from left to right: N. Eldon Tanner, Spencer W. Kimball, and Marion G. Romney)
Wikimedia Commons public domain photo

Here are two items that were newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation earlier today:

Interpreter Foundation Come, Follow Me Podcast, December 8-14, 2025: “We Believe”: The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2:

For the 20 November 2025 Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Foundation Podcast, Martin Tanner, Kris Frederickson, and Bruce Webster discussed the Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants lesson for December 8 – 14 covering the Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2. The Discussion segment of the 20 November 2025 podcast can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-podcast-november-20-2025.

Come, Follow Me — D&C Study and Teachings Helps (2025): The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2, December 8-14: “We Believe”:

Articles of Faith Background and Introduction: The Articles of Faith were written in 1842 by the Prophet Joseph Smith in response to a request from John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat newspaper, who wanted information concerning the history and beliefs of the Church. Joseph responded by writing what came to be known as “the […]

And I should probably also mention that, it being the last month of the year and — given the rules of the Internal Revenue Service here in the United States of America — the very peak month of charitable giving for the entire year, I’ve set up a small fundraising site on my Facebook page for the Interpreter Foundation.

Let me make it clear that the organization is overwhelmingly staffed by unpaid volunteers. That includes your’s truly. So you need not worry about your money going to pay my exorbitant salary as an apologist, since I earn none. Because — with just two or three exceptions — our officers and authors and other workers volunteer their time and energy, our expenses are relatively low. But they aren’t zero, and, thus, we’re obliged to raise money. I wish it weren’t so, but it is, and there you have it. So, if you’ve enjoyed or liked or benefited from anything that we’ve done, I hope that you’ll consider pitching just a bit your hard-earned cash toward the Interpreter Foundation. We will use if efficiently and well.

And, of course, nothing requires that you give through my Facebook page. Here are some other avenues for giving: Donate to the Cause.

Sir Tom Stoppard (1937-2025), shown in 2011 (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

The Czech and English playwright Sir Tom Stoppard (born Tomáš Sträussler) died on 29 November 2025. In his tribute to Stoppard, King Charles III cited a line that evidently comes from one of Stoppard’s plays and that I like very much, as it expresses part of my own view of death:

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

An infographic for the Giving Machines (from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Incidentally, the 2o25 Giving Machines initiative is under witheringly negative attack in at least one malignant corner of darkest apostate anti-Mormonism — maybe more widely, but that’s the only corner of Mordor to which I pay any real attention — which seems to me conclusive evidence that it’s a good effort and worthy of wide support.

“Director Jon M. Chu brings ‘Wicked’ magic to the Giving Machines with a generous donation: ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu and his daughter quietly made a donation to the Light the World Giving Machine at The Grove on Los Angeles”

“Light the World Giving Machine Kiosks Come to BYU: The yearly holiday initiative gives students in Provo an easy opportunity to serve others, just as Jesus Christ would”

James Christensen’s “Annunciation” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

In this seven-minute video, the all-male a cappella vocal group Chanticleer performs what I, at least, rank among the most achingly, exquisitely beautiful pieces of music ever composed, Franz Biebl’s 1964 setting of “Ave Maria”:

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ.
Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Maria dixit: Ecce Ancilla Domini.
Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.

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 nostræ. Amen.

Here is my uninspired translation of the text, which, of course, derives from St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate rendition of Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:42:

The angel of the Lord appeared unto Mary,
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

“Hail, Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Mary said, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord.
Let it be unto me according to thy word.”

“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.

Our world is marred by horrifying evil, hatred, suffering, sorrow, and ugliness. It is darkened by death and by the fear and the reality of devastating loss. But it also presents great goodness and beauty. This exquisite piece of music offers a glimpse and a reminder of that goodness and that beauty. In fact, at certain moments in Biebl’s Ave Maria, I find it almost impossible to understand how anybody can doubt that God exists. Such loveliness seems utterly superfluous to the survival of the fittest, to a world of mere nature that is red in tooth and claw, in which life is dominated by the mindless imperative to transmit genetic material.

Frank Pickford Marriott, “The Annunciation” (1904) Wikimedia Commons public domain image

But it’s time now for the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™: Just imagine how much better a world it would be if such abominations as Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria didn’t exist! I hope that you’ll keep that thought in mind as we work our way through my personal selection here of art and music for Christmas. Let us all join Mr. Hitchens in a hearty “Bah! Humbug!”

Also, of course, see the links above concerning the Giving Machines. How horrible! How thoroughly . . . poisoned. And this: “Elder Kearon visits Latter-day Saints, friends in disaster-stricken Cebu, Philippines: Apostle’s words and love ‘brought hope and comfort to us all,’ local leader says”

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