Solemnity of the Annunciation

March 25 marks the Solemnity of the Annunciation.  This is the feast day celebrating when the Archangel Gabriel came to the Blessed Virgin Mary and "announced" to her that the Lord God had found favor with her, pronouncing her "Full of Grace."  It is from this passage in Scripture that we get part of the "Hail Mary:"

Hail Mary, Full of Grace!
The Lord is with thee!
Blessed are you among women!
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

 Luke 1:28:

And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Continuing with Luke 1 comes the "announcement" not only of the favor the Lord has found with her, but that she would conceive and bear a Son:

[30] And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. [31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33]And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Be It Done To Me According To Thy Word

After hearing this, the Blessed Virgin gives her fiat, indicating it was not merely "done" to her, but with her full consent and will:

[38]And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Holy Mary, Mother of God!

[41] And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

The Magnificat

[46] And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. [49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

The Date of Christmas

Long ago it was thought that a person died on the anniversary of their conception.  In 33ad Good Friday fell on what we now call March 25th (the Gregorian Calendar had not yet been developed, but we can go back from when it was to figure out the dates).  So, contrary to many who believe the date of Christmas was chosen to line up with pagan holidays and/or the Winter Solstice (which since that is December 21st, it doesn't match up with!), in reality the date of Christmas is based upon the date of Good Friday in 33ad!  December 25th is nine months after March 25th!

Works and Grace III

Alan, AKA "Rhology" wrote:
> Now, at the risk of inciting your wrath for moving
> to a topic that you yourself addressed in the
> same post as another topic once upon a time, I'd
> like to talk about your reaction to Eph 2.

sw: Well, actually this is more of the topic which I was dealing with in the Works and Grace series on the CathApol Blog. So, no "wrath" from me, as if I had any against you yet to begin with!

Alan continues:
> Notice how, again, "works" appears TWICE in the
> psg. You're proposing that "not as a result of works"
> = works of the OT Law, while "created in Christ
> Jesus for good works" is something totally different?
> Even though they appear one sentence of each other?

sw: Yes, but not absolutely. "Works of the Law" CAN be "good works" if one is in the State of Grace FIRST.

Alan continues:
> On what basis do you conclude that Paul would find
> "works of the Law" to be a bad thing?

sw: I never said "works of the Law" is a bad thing. Please be careful not to put words into my mouth and/or to not create straw man argumentation.

Alan continues:
> Isn't he the guy who calls the Law "holy, righteous, and good"?

sw: Again, I do not call "works of the Law" to be "bad" things. They simply do not justify. "Good works" DO justify, but in order for a "work" to be considered "good" one must already be in the "State of Grace." If you're not aware of that concept, I would be happy to explain it further to you.

Alan continues:
> Don't rush off to your misinterpretation of James, please - stick
> with Eph 2, lest you shotgun off into the tools of Satan again.

sw: James 2 is "on topic" with regard to "works," "faith," and "justification." To ignore what St. James said is to ignore the context of Scripture which God provides His People. Certainly you're not avoiding what St. James said, are you? How have I misrepresented St. James? I "quoted" him! He is the one who says sola fide (faith alone) is dead - not me! He is the ONLY New Testament writer to put the words "faith" and "alone" together and when he does so it is in complete negation of the concept of sola fide! Look at this honestly and then ask yourself "What else did Luther and later Calvin lie to me about?"

Alan continues:
> Focus - on what basis do you switch the two instances of
> "works" to different meanings, one quite good and one quite
> unsavory, in Eph 2?

I did so, above.

In JMJ,
Scott<<<

Kecharitomenae

Our Blessed Mother & The Saints
Topic: Kecharitomenae

Question: I am wondering about how many apologists (as well as Church Doctors) use the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to illustrate the Immaculate Conception. He says she is "full of grace." St. Alphonsus Ligouri, in his fantastic work "The Glories of Mary," argues that this illustrates the Immaculate Conception. However, later on in the Acts of the Apostles (6:8), St. Stephen is described as being full of grace as well. The Vulgate's Latin is very similar in both situations. Thus, one could argue that the Archangel's greeting to Our Lady proves nothing, since the same phrase is used on St. Stephen. How would one respond to this?

Answer:

First of all, Acts 6:8 does not describe St. Stephen as "full of grace" (past-perfect tense). Rather, Stephen is described as ".filled with grace and power was working great wonders and signs among the people." In other words, it is a simple present tense. More on this in a moment. Secondly, the Greek of Acts 6:8 is dramatically different from the Greek of Luke 1:28, which describes Mary as "full of grace." In Luke 1:28, Mary is called "Kecharitomenae" --past-perfect tense, and literally translated as "perfectly graced." In Acts 6:8, Stephen is described as "pleres charitos" --present tense, and literally translated as "filled with grace." Thirdly, and directly connected to this, is the fact that Luke 1:28's expression "full of grace" ("gratia plena" in Latin) is a Latinism created by St. Jerome via his Vulgate translation. The Greek itself of Luke 1:28 makes no literal reference to being "full" of anything. Rather, as I said, the Greek term ("Kecharitomenae") literally means "perfectly graced" or "completed in grace," and so, from the point of view of the original Greek, there is simply no comparison between Luke 1:28 and Acts 6:3 at all. Fourthly, and as I mentioned above, Luke 1:28's "Kecharitomenae" is in the past-perfect tense. In this, it is a term exclusive to Luke 1:28, and so exclusive to Mary. No one else in the Bible is described in this way in regard to grace. And this becomes especially striking when we compares it to verses like Ephesians 1:6 and Ephesians 2:8, where Scripture speaks of Baptized Christians as being "graced" ("a charie toson" --past tense), but never "perfectly graced" or "completed in grace" ("kecharitomenae" --past perfect tense). And lastly, the most strinking difference between Acts 6:3 and Luke 1:28 is that, in Luke 1:28, Mary is being called "Kecharitomenae" (that is "Full of grace" or "Perfectly graced") as a proper name! It is amazing how people always overlook that. Unlike Stephen in Acts 6:8, who is merely being described as "filled with grace and power" (and merely at a given moment), Mary is being called - and not only called - but hailed by an angel as "Full of grace" / "Perfectly graced." And we all know the importance of names in Scripture, right? So, "Kecharitomenae" describes Mary's very nature because it is presented as her name: "Chaire, Kecharitomenae" ---literally: "Hail, Full of grace." And this is the very same term ("chaire" --"hail") that the soldiers use to mock Jesus in John 19:3 ("Hail, King of the Jews"). In other words, a term reserved for royalty. And so, here, an angel --a supposedly superior being --is addressing this Galilean maiden with the words, "Hail, Full of grace." Very powerful stuff; and St. Alfonso Liguori was right to boast about it (albeit, as he does, in a very "flowery" and poetic way).

Source: http://www.catholic-legate.com/qa/kecharitomenae.html