The Lord is With You

Homily for the Solemnity of the Annunciation

“The Lord is with you.”

These words spoken by the angel Gabriel are the most remarkable in this frequently proclaimed Gospel text. The Lord, the Mighty One, the God of your Ancestors, the Creator of the Universe is with Mary as she is told about God’s plan to rescue all humankind from the curse of Original Sin.

Sitting with these words makes it very clear that anyone who believes these words about Mary realizes that she really has nothing to fear. This is also part of Gabriel’s message. “Do not be afraid.” If the Lord is with her, not only can she put aside her fear, she can also believe that no matter what is asked of her is humanly possible.

These words are part of our daily life. Most Catholics pray them every day. When we feel the need to pray, the two prayers that come most frequently to mind are the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. Culturally speaking, the words “Hail Mary” have come to describe actions that are somewhat desperate. There used to express the fact that something out of the ordinary needs to happen as in a last-ditch touchdown in a football game.

I suggest that we use the Angels words as our mindfulness trigger for the day. “The Lord is with me.” Nothing will feel daunting if we simply include these words before we attempt any and all of our usual daily tasks and actions. With this in mind, we can conquer any situation.