The Theology of the Hail Mary: Contemplative Wisdom or Dualistic Fear?

A long-term reader of this blog recently wrote to me and posed this question:

Carl, w hat do you think the last line of the Hail Mary means? 

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death?”

I think it is a plea for salvation at the last moments of our lives. I see that as pathetic and yet frightening. I stopped praying the Rosary some years ago because of it. I don’t like praying the Hail Mary once, let alone 53 times in the Rosary, imagining myself dying and ple...