Let us join in the prayer of the Holy Rosary for the end of the current pandemic. “This [the second half of the Hail Mary] was not introduced until the latter part of the Middle Ages. Since it seizes upon the two decisive moments of life: “now” and “at the hour of our death,” it suggests the spontaneous outcry of people in a great calamity. The Black Death, which ravaged all Europe and wiped out one-third of its population, prompted the faithful to cry out to the Mother of Our Lord to protect them at a time when the present moment and death were almost one.” -The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen