THE 13 SECOND HAIL MARY

Just recently I was getting ready to go out, and in order to be on time I had one eye on my bathroom clock, the other on my lipstick. The thought dawned on me to offer a prayer for someone who has been so very sick lately that they were almost hospitalized. But I only had time for one Hail Mary and so I offered it more reverently than usual and I didn't take my eyes off my clock. I didn't mean to time myself but did so automatically because I'm the sort who times everything anyway. I made the discovery that a Hail Mary offered respectfully can take approximately 13 seconds. 

This is another example of the Virgin Mary's association with the number 13, that the time it takes to offer the prayer that every Catholic must know to her takes the number of seconds that add up to 13.

Far from making prayer time-consuming and tedious, the process of giving 13 seconds to every Hail Mary means that per 5 decades approximately 11.4 minutes is spent (53 X 13). When all the other prayers are added, the total time is 15 minutes. 

Most people say it takes them 15 minutes to offer one Rosary, and this confirms more or less that they are spending an average of 13 seconds per Hail Mary.