For your insight:
“favored one”: Greek: Verb: kecharitoomene: literally means: “having been graced,” from the verb charitooo = “to grace, favor.” Ephesians 1:6 uses the Greek echaritoosen (indicative, active, aorist = “he graced”). The LXX uses Luke’s morphology in Esther 18:17, in which kecharitoomenoo is used as an adjectival participle. Other derivatives appear in 2Mc 3:33; 4 Mc 5:8. In Lk 1:28, kecharitoomene is titular, since it follows the greeting chaire. Whereas the Greek could have used a simple noun to address Mary, Luke uses a complex verb. The NT uses pleerees charitos (“full of grace”) to describe Jesus (Jn 1:14) and Stephen (Ac 6:8), but these phrases are not as specific to time, agent and continuity as kecharitoomene. Unfortunately, the RSV, along with the Protestant translations, and the more liberal Catholic translations dilute kecharitoomene to being merely a “favoring” of Mary rather than an intrinsic quality of Mary.
The unique features of kecharitoomene are the use of the Greek perfect tense, which:
(a) denotes that the state of grace began in past time;
(b) denotes a completed and accomplished action;
(c) whose results continue in the present;
(d) uses the Greek passive voice, denoting that Mary received the title of “fully graced” from an outside entity, ie, God. In short, the perfect participle means
“God has filled you with grace, and as a result, you are still in this blessed condition.” We might better translate the verse as:
“And entering he said to her: ‘Hail, FullyGraced One, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.’ 29 But she was greatly troubled at the statement, and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her: ‘“Fear not, Mary, For you did find grace with God.”
Beginning with the Reformation, various translators of kecharitoomene have avoided inferences to the Immaculate Conception, many attempting to portray the state of grace as extrinsic or forensic not intrinsic or infused. The Latin Vulgate and DouayRheims translate kecharitoomene as gratia plena (“full of grace”) denoting an intrinsic quality of grace in Mary. The NT uses pleerees (“full of grace”) to describe Jesus (Jn 1:14) and Stephen (Ac 6:8), but these phrases are not as specific to time, agent and continuity as kecharitoomene.
The statement, “The Lord is with you” is literally “The Lord with you,” such that the Greek copula “is” is not included. Greek can leave out the copula when the present tense is implied, but not if a past, future or perfect tense exists. Thus, the literal present tense of “The Lord with you” means that it is a truth of great import and perpetuity, as if it were an eternal circumstance that will never cease.
The Greek aorist tense of “have found” in the clause “Mary, for you have found favor with God,” means that Mary possessed this grace from long ago. Even if she only learns of it now, nevertheless, she possessed this blessed state in the indefinite past.
The verb eulogemene (“Blessed”) in the clause “Blessed are you among women” is a Greek perfect, passive, participle (just as the verb kecharitoomene in Luke 1:28). This means that the “blessed” state is one that occurred in the past and has continuing effects in the present and future. In addition, it is a state which was given to her by an outside agent.
As one can tell from the Protestant translations of Luke 1:28, none of them are disposed to translate it as the DouayRheims and Latin Vulgate. Even modern Catholic translations (which are predisposed to Protestant theology in many areas) do the same. As a result, these translations ignore the more serious implications offered by the Greek verb kekcharitoomene, reducing it merely to a favored status of Mary rather than a description of a state of being that Mary possesses in her own person. Part of the reason for this state of affairs is that Protestants have a different conception of grace. Protestants do not conceive of grace as a quality of the soul (what the Catholic Church has traditionally called “infusion of grace.” At the moment of Baptism, the individual is free from all sin). Rather, Protestants conceive of grace as a legal status, or only how God views the individual, not as something intrinsic to the individual. Thus, to them, Mary cannot possess grace that changes her intrinsically or gives her soul a state of sinlessness, rather, she merely has an exalted status above other human beings, that is, she is “highly favored.”
Unlike Protestant denominations who rail against veneration of Mary, Catholics have a pure, undefiled, Mother of the Church and Mother of God to emulate and follow. Although Scripture only gives us implicit information about Mary’s Immaculate Conception (information which Protestants conclude must result in a denial of the doctrine), this shows us that not everything we believe in Catholicism is written explicitly between the pages of Scripture, but is often only implicit. That is because Scripture, although a great source of information, is not exhaustive in its information concerning the Christian faith. It is a witness to the truth, not a complete revelation of the truth, and therefore we would expect it to treat some subjects rather sparsely, and others more indepth. There are many such beliefs in Catholicism that are only touched upon in Scripture and not treated exhaustively (e.g., Purgatory, Indulgences, Communion of Saints, Sacrament of the Sick, Apostolic Succession, Prayers for the Dead, the Assumption of Mary, Confession to a Priest, etc). But Scripture is clear that, in the area of dogma, the Church and Tradition are our guide, and are on an equal par with Scripture (Mt 16:18-19; 1Tm 3:15; 2Th 2:15), and as such we must obey each and every dogma that she proclaims, for she speaks with the mouth of Christ: “He who listens to you, listens to Me” (Lk 10:16).
