Hail Mary, full of grace

What about Mary?

Many other faiths have a problem with the Catholic view of Mary. Don't let ignorance ruin a beautiful devotion to an amazing woman!

The Hail Mary is a wonderful, Catholic prayer that is based on scripture verses about Mary, so yeah, it's in the Bible.
Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. (Luke 1:28)
Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. (Luke 1:42)
Holy Mary Mother of God, (Luke 1:31)
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

It begins with praising Mary and then asking her for some help, kind of like we do with our friends.  "Hey, you look really really nice today, are you losing weight?  Can you help me move this stuff"?

As Catholics we ask Mary for prayers of intercession. We don't pray directly to Mary but instead pray through Mary. As Catholics we must remember that we do not worship Mary nor do we pray to Mary expecting that through her own power our prayers will be answered. Mary can however, take and perfect our prayers and then present them to her son Jesus.
We must remember that Mary asked Jesus to perform his first miracle to which he did. Mary interceded for the bride and groom so as not to be embarrased when they ran out of wine.
Do not be confused by mediation and intercession.

1 Timothy 2:1-5
First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,
for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time.

John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
(And) Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom
and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

For Further Reading:
To really get a lot more about Mary and her role in the Catholic Church "Hail Holy Queen", is an awesome book by Scott Hahn about the Church's belief's about Mary and the scriptural references to her that indeed proves her worthy to intercede on our behalf to her son Jesus Christ.
CCC 2675-2676 especially the part entitled In communion with the holy Mother of God
CCC - The name of Jesus is at the heart of Christian prayer. All liturgical prayers conclude with the words "through our Lord Jesus Christ." The Hail Mary reaches its high point in the words "blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." The Eastern prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, says: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Many Christians, such as St. Joan of Arc, have died with the one word "Jesus" on their lips.

We often ask others to pray for us.  Why can't we ask Mary to pray for us as well, her close proximity to God and ability to correct and perfect our prayer before passing it along certainly can't hurt us!  I know my prayers need to be perfected prior to handing them to God!