“Hail, favored one!  The Lord is with you; you have found favor with God!”  This greeting, from the Angel Gabriel to Mary, is packed with deep meaning.  In this small greeting, we learn that God has big plans for Mary.  We also learn something about God’s plan for us, and we learn about the part that God’s grace plays in His plan.

First of all, let’s look at the greeting to Mary:  “Hail, favored one!         The Lord is with you.”  The word hail or ave can better be translated as rejoice, which is the word we would use in our culture. So, Hail, favored one! could be said in today’s English as, “Rejoice, Mary, you are highly favored.”

Gabriel came with a celestial message, a message greater than Mary could have ever imagined.  The message in its fullness would have meaning, something like this: "Heaven is coming down in the form of a Child; and you, Mary, have been chosen as the vessel that will bring this Holy Child into the world.”

Mary was selected to play a critical role in God’s plan of salvation for all mankind.  Mary would be the Mother of Jesus the Son of God, the beginning of the ultimate plan of action to bring about the incarnation.