“Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” When the angel first uttered these words, Mary was disturbed. And yet we see that after Mary’s fiat that day, we can greet each other today saying, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” We are in fact, a grace-filled people. The Lord has chosen to be with us always until the end of time. Pause for awhile and listen while we say these words to ourselves, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you”. I know that our hearts will surely be stirred by these words. God, in His love and mercy, continues to live within us despite our shortcomings. How can we ever be worthy to stand in front of Him knowing what we know about ourselves? And yet, here we are, filled with His grace. What more is there to want?

Today most specially, we are invited to remember how our Lord loves us, how He longs to be with us, how we cannot be complete without Him. Our hearts pour out in gratitude that our Lord has chosen to be one like us. We thank Mary for her decision to say yes to the invitation of the Lord.

Lord, keep us close to you, do not let us stray too far from you. Keep our hearts grateful for the many graces of your love and mercy. Grant us the grace, so that like Mary, we can keep constantly at prayer, recognize your voice and be ready to say yes to your invitation.