The Almighty does not send to Mary, a prophet or priest, or any
other earthly ambassador, nor even one of the lower choirs of angels, but
He commissions an Archangel to confer with her.

_"__Hail full of grace!__"_ Gabriel does not congratulate her on her
personal charms, though she is the fairest daughter of Israel. He does not
praise her for her exalted ancestry, though she is descended from the
Kings of Juda. But he commends her because she is the chosen child of
benediction. He admires the hidden virtues of her soul, brighter than the
sun, fairer than the moon, purer than angels, he sees before him,

"Our tainted nature's solitary boast,"

one that alone escaped the taint of Adam's disobedience.

As the precious diamond reflects various colors according as it is exposed
to the sun's rays, so did the soul of Mary, from the moment that the "Sun
of Justice" shone upon her, exhibit every grace that was prompted by the
occasion.

St. Stephen and the Apostles were also said to be full of the Spirit of
God. By this, however, we are not to understand that the same measure of
grace was imparted to them which was given to Mary. On each one it is
bestowed according to his merits and needs. "One is the glory of the sun,
another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars, for
star differeth from star in glory;"(242) and as Mary's office of Mother of
God immeasurably surpassed in dignity that of the proto-martyr and of the
Apostles, so did her grace superabound over theirs.

_"__The Lord is with thee.__"_ "He exists in His creatures in different
ways; in those that are endowed with reason in one way, in irrational
creatures in another. His irrational creatures have no means of
apprehending or possessing Him. All rational creatures may indeed
apprehend Him by knowledge, but only the good by love. Only in the good
does He so exist as to be with them as well as in them; with them by a
certain harmony and agreement of will, and in this way God is with all His
Saints. But He is with Mary in a yet more special manner, for in her there
was so great an agreement and union with God that not her will only, but
her very flesh was to be united to him."(243)

_"__Blessed art Thou among women.__"_ The same expression is applied to
two other women in the Holy Scripture--viz., to Jahel and Judith. The
former was called blessed after she had slain Sisara,(244) and the latter
after she had slain Holofernes,(245) both o