Interesting take from Deacon Tom in his homily today. The “knowledge” that Adam acquired by eating the apple might be seen as the acquisition of judging and being prone to comparing: “good, better, best”. Adam’s nakedness and embarrassment was since he judged he was so far below God. Deacon said we are called to serve and not judge. Challenging to put it mildly.
It’s interesting to consider the angel Gabriel referred to Mary initially not by name - surely unprecedented? - but by a title. “Full of grace” is a rough translation. Maybe “the Plentitude of Grace”. The Greek word is charitoō and is used only one other time, in the letter to the Ephesians where St Paul implies a comparison between us and Mary:
“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love..to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he has highly favored (charitoō) us in the Beloved.”
Of course this is a translation of a translation of a translation since the angel presumably spoke in Aramaic for Mary’s sake even though it’s possible she knew some Greek.
The Greek for “Hail, full of grace” sounds mellifluous and more succinct: “Chairō, charitoō!’
Regardless, to be full of grace is in the vicinity of “immaculate conception” since to be without original or personal sin would imply the absolute fullness of grace. Jesus said not “I have resurrected” but “I am the Resurrection”. Similarly Mary didn’t say “I was immaculately conceived” but that “I am the immaculate conception” (per the apparition at Lourdes).
A priest posted about it:
“With these words she clearly stated that she is not only immaculately conceived, but is the Immaculate Conception. In the same way, a thing that is white is something other than whiteness itself, and a perfect thing is something other than perfection itself. When God spoke about Himself, He said to Moses, ‘I am Who am,’ that is, it belongs to My essence that I always have my being from Myself, without beginning. In contrast, the Immaculate Virgin has her beginning in God, is a creation, is a conception. Nevertheless she is the Immaculate Conception. She is, as St. Maximillian Kolbe put it, "the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Ghost." She and the Holy Ghost can both be properly called the Immaculate Conception:
'We can say likewise that she is the greatest, most excellent, purest Temple of the Holy Ghost. Mary herself corroborates this truth when she defines herself at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception” and thus assigns to herself the title that in the strict sense is an attribute of God (“I am...”) and is applied in particular to the Holy Ghost, who within the Trinity is the eternally perfect, “immaculate” conception of the Father and the Son.'
'If among creatures a bride takes the name of her husband by the fact that she belongs to him, unites herself with him, makes herself like unto him and together with him becomes the source of new life, how much more should the name of the Holy Spirit, "Immaculate Conception", be the name of her in whom He lives with a love which is fruitful in the entire supernatural economy?”
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I also got curious about the about the derivation of the title “Stella Maris" since we named our dog after that title of Mary:
“In the 5th century St. Jerome translated Mary’s Hebrew name Miryam, which means ‘drop of the sea’ into the Latin ‘Stilla Maris’. Either due to a peasant dialect or a transcription error, Stilla became Stella and Mary went from a drop in the ocean to the star of the sea. This speaks highly to God’s power in exalting the humble! The Church traditionally celebrates the feast of Mary Stella Maris or Mary, Star of the Sea, on September 27."
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