"Hail, Mary, full of grace..." Luke 1:28

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jimmy said:
It is not strictly a verb, it is a participle which is a verbal-adjective. It is in the vocative case, the perfect tense, passive mood, and feminine gender. To translate it as “be full of grace” or “be highly favored” is not a literal translation. The literal translation would be closer to “Hail, who has been filled with grace, the Lord is with you.” This maintains the voice, case, and tense. The fact that it is a vocative tense for the participle means that the angel is using it as an address to Mary. She is “filled with grace”, in the same way she is Mary. It is passive meaning that she has been filled. It is a perfect tense meaning that the action happened in the past and continues into the present. She was filled at some time in the past and she is still filled with grace.
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Well said, another translation could be “Hail, already Graced”
 
In all the threads I have seen in this forum on the subject of “Full of grace” being the superior translation, it seems to me that the difficulty many find with, “Favored one” could be easily corrected with a stroke of a pen or pencil and a few words inscribed in its place.

However, here I would like to take a slightly different look for everyone’s consideration. I would like to look at the word “Hail”. My thoughts come from the writings of our Holy Father and I find what he writes very intersting and inspiring. Pope Benedict offers the suggestion of using the word “Rejoice” in place of “Hail” and his explanation is rooted in a profound scriptural understanding of this greeting.

So I think it would be interesting for us, when pondering the verse in Luke to focus our attention on the first word of the angel’s greeting. What do you think?
 
jimmy said:
It is not strictly a verb, it is a participle which is a verbal-adjective. It is in the vocative case, the perfect tense, passive mood, and feminine gender. To translate it as “be full of grace” or “be highly favored” is not a literal translation. The literal translation would be closer to “Hail, who has been filled with grace, the Lord is with you.” This maintains the voice, case, and tense. The fact that it is a vocative tense for the participle means that the angel is using it as an address to Mary. She is “filled with grace”, in the same way she is Mary. It is passive meaning that she has been filled. It is a perfect tense meaning that the action happened in the past and continues into the present. She was filled at some time in the past and she is still filled with grace.
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Interesting that the New Jerusalem Bible (1985) renders it: “Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour”.
 
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