"THE LORD IS WITH THEE"

The Blessed Virgin excels the Angels in her closeness to God. The Angel 

Gabriel indicated this when he said: "The Lord is with thee" - as if to say: 

"I reverence thee because thou art nearer to God than I, because the Lord 

is with thee." By the Lord; he means the Father with the Son and the Holy 

Spirit, who in like manner are not with any Angel or any other spirit: "The 

Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." God the 

Son was in her womb: "Rejoice and praise, O thou habitation of Sion; for 

great is He that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel."

The Lord is not with the Angel in the same manner as with the Blessed 

Virgin; for with her He is as a Son, and with the Angel He is the Lord. The 

Lord, the Holy Ghost, is in her as in a temple, so that it is said: "The 

temple of the Lord, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit," because she 

conceived by the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee." The 

Blessed Virgin is closer to God than is an Angel, because with her are the 

Lord the Father, the Lord the Son, and the Lord the Holy Ghost - in a word, 

the Holy Trinity. Indeed of her we sing: "Noble resting place of the Triune 

God." "The Lord is with thee" are the most praiseladen words that the 

Angel could have uttered; and, hence, he so profoundly reverenced the 

Blessed Virgin because she is the Mother of the Lord and Our Lady. 

Accordingly she is very well named "Mary," which in the Syrian tongue means 

"Lady."