BVM Series | Blessed Virgin Mary : ‘Full of Grace’!
Peace be unto you, Mary! Full of Grace!
Mary was ‘Full of Grace’ (or highly favored), and Archangel Gabriel declared, she is filled with it! (Lk. 1: 28). Grace is unmerited favor, which God gives when a recipient is not expecting or deserving. Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God is the Queen of all saints. The Virgin Mother “was, after her Son, exalted by divine grace above all angels and men.”
Grace is God’s “goodwill to men of worthy life (1 Peter 5: 10). Without this goodwill or ‘grace,’ nothing would even exist. Grace is given at the sole discretion of God. In other words, He favours whom He pleases (Ex. 33: 19). God was gracious to Israel by giving them prosperity, delivering them from distress, from enemies, forgiving them, etc. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and others were highly favoured by God. But neither Abraham nor Isaac, neither Jacob nor David, and not even Moses, were “full of grace”. Mary was ‘Full of Grace’ – fully possessed of that participation in the very life of God with which, she bore, gave flesh that was untainted by sin, to the Son of God. It was not that Mary deserved Grace by virtue of her birth or deeds, but God chose to favour and dwell in her. She was graced with the privilege of being able to bear the Son of God.
Who can possibly be closer to Jesus Christ both in Heaven and on Earth? Mary possesses a unique relationship with the Persons of the Holy Trinity, thereby giving her a title of Queen-ship.
She was chosen by God the Father, to be the Mother of His Son; God the Holy Spirit chose her to be his virginal spouse for the Incarnation of the Son.
God the Son chose her to be his mother, the means of incarnating into the world for the purposes of the redemption of humanity. Who is, ever will be, more one with Him … than Mary, whose flesh is one flesh with Him since the moment of His conception in her womb, His Incarnation – and will be for all eternity?
She is ‘full of grace’ filled with the life of God, participating in the life of God as no other human being in history.
“Grace is the name applied to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been sent down and are being sent down to the Church of Christ for the sanctification of its faithful members, for their spiritual growth, and for the attainment by them of the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Holy Spirit conferred upon the faithful of the Church, is frequently referred to as “Baptismal Grace.” Baptismal grace, the presence within us of the Holy Spirit… is the foundation of all Christian life. Do we not receive the same Grace in Holy Baptism, Holy Chrismation and Holy Communion and other Holy Sacraments?
Mary was not ordinary but was in ‘full of grace’. St. John tells that ‘Truth’ and ‘Grace’ came through Christ Jesus (Jn. 1: 16-17). The Grace is the Savior; she carried in her womb and after Pentecost, the spiritual Grace of Christ that lives in every believer. She alone is full of grace; she alone participates consummately in the life of God – as she bore the Son of God. Her womb was the physical site of the enfleshment of God – Second Heaven
Who is like Mary? No angel, no saint, no man, no other woman. Only Mary!!
In Christ is Mary, as Mary is in no other.
In Mary is Christ, as He is in no other!
We cannot love Mary enough alone, nor can we separate her from her Son any more than we can separate from Jesus his Divinity from His Humanity.
Look at Mary, she is full of Grace!
O Mother of God intercede on our behalf, so that the Lord may have mercy upon us.
Through the prayers of the Theotokos, full of grace, O Savior, save us!
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