The Angelic Salutation (Part 2) by St. Thomas Aquinas

"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 Ghost, 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" (Luke 1:35). God the Son was in her womb.

 

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

 

"Blessed art thou among women" - The Blessed Virgin exceeds the Angels in purity. She is not only pure, but she obtains purity for others. She is purity itself, wholly lacking in every guilt of sin, for she never incurred either mortal or venial sin. So, too, she was free from the penalties of sin. Moreover, she alone escaped the curse of sin, brought forth the Source of blessing (Our Lord Jesus Christ), and opened the gate of Heaven.

 

"Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb" - The sinner often seeks for something which he does not find; but to the just man it is given to find what he seeks: "The substance of the sinner is kept for the just" (Prov. 13:22). Thus, Eve sought the fruit of the tree (of good and evil), but she did not find in it that which she sought.  Everything Eve desired, however, was given to the Blessed Virgin. Eve sought that which the Devil falsely promised her, namely, that she and Adam would be as gods, knowing good and evil. Eve looked for pleasure in the fruit of the tree because it was good to eat. But she did not find this pleasure in it, and, on the contrary, she at once discovered she was naked and was stricken with sorrow. In the Fruit of the Blessed Virgin we find sweetness and salvation: "He who eats My flesh ... has eternal life" (John 6:55).

 

Eve, therefore, looked in vain for that which she sought in the fruit of the tree, just as the sinner is disappointed in his sins. We must seek in the Fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary whatsoever we desire. This is He who is the Fruit blessed by God, who has filled Him with every grace, which in turn is poured out upon us who adore Him.