There’s a wonderful Basque carol called “Gabriel’s Message,” a folk melody about the Annunciation, with a lilting refrain, “Most highly favored lady. Gloria!” The English text is by Sabine Baring-Gould, published by Hope Publishing Company. It’s a natural for today—but if you music ministry doesn’t know, it, put it in the tickler file for Advent and today’s feast for next year. It’s a marvelous text, but it doesn’t go far enough.

True, Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit, as announced to her by God’s messenger, Gabriel. But in every other respect, she was an ordinary woman of her time. She gave birth to her child in difficult but extraordinary circumstances—not in the comfort and support of her Nazareth family and friends, but in a strange city where she knew no one. She and her husband then were refugees, fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s jealous rage. Wherever they lived, she and Joseph raised Jesus to be an observant Jew. We don’t know when she became a widow, but it was probably before she followed her itinerant preacher son, before she stood at the foot of the cross, before they laid him in a borrowed tomb.

Think today of the thousands and thousands of refugee women, many of them widows, fleeing the destruction of war and trying desperately to keep their children fed and safe. Think of the thousands waiting, hoping, despairing, in refugee camps, often not knowing whether their husbands and sons are alive or dead.

Don’t settle for overly sweet Marian songs today. Choose strong texts that resonate with the realities of our time, and strong melodies that underscore the texts. One good, solid Marian song is all you need; for the rest, emphasize songs of peace—and pray them.