“Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia, el Señor es contigo.”
Privileged to be part of STM’s immersion experience in El Salvador this month, I heard (and prayed) these opening words of the Ave María (Hail Mary) time and again. Below are some of the many such moments:
- During home visits to sick and elderly members of the parishes and Christian base communities with whom we connected across San Salvador and Zaragoza.
- In the crypt of the Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador, where Saint Óscar Romero is at long last laid to rest.
- Throughout our morning and evening group prayer gatherings in the dining room of our lodging.
- At the end of Mass in La Roque, guided by children praying before La Virgen de Guadalupe.
These opening words of prayer that I heard repeatedly in El Salvador are the very same ones proclaimed by the angel Gabriel to Mary in today’s Gospel passage for the Solemnity of the Annunciation:
“Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia, el Señor es contigo.”
“Hail, [Mary,] full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).
It may sound strange, but with is one of the most spiritually meaningful words I know. God’s with-ness to us calls out to me as a theme of today’s readings. In the First Reading, Isaiah prophesies of a son to be named Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” The verse before the Gospel teaches us that “the Word of God became flesh” and dwelled “among us.” And again, in the Gospel, Gabriel assures Mary that God is with her.
For me, Mary’s fiercely bold yes to God’s invitation was grounded in her embodied knowledge that God was—and is—with her, and that she was—and is—with God.
I believe that (now-Saint) Romero also found deep spiritual resonance in with. Upon his ordination as bishop, he chose sentir con la Iglesia (“to feel with the Church”) as his episcopal motto.
Melding together the witness of these two pillars of faith in action—Mary of Nazareth and Óscar Arnulfo Romero—I wonder:
- Is there an invitation from God to which you can respond yes this Lent?
- Can your yes open a pathway to co-laboring with God’s people to bring about a more just world?
- Throughout it all, what spiritual practice might help remind you that God is indeed with you?
Image: The photo above of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on the wall in the crypt where Saint Óscar Romero is laid to rest.
