Mary, the kecharitōmĕnē

What does it mean to be "Full of Grace."?

Sanctuary of Divine WordSeminary Tagaytay

The Scriptures have always depicted Mary as simple human person, a woman living within the portals of Nazareth in Israel, and thus of Judaism. To be in Nazareth in this time of history reduces women to almost a servant of men. Israel as we know, fosters as a patriarchal society. Women were not allowed to engage in almost everything men venture to but to household chores and the like. In the Bible, both in the New and Old Testaments we can see many instances of these. It is but amazing how colourful the Narration about Mary is. Catholic Biblical Scholars always relate Mary to major events and prophesies in the Old Testament.

We believe that Mary is prophetically implied in the protoevangelium (first proclamation) in Genesis 3:15. “I will put enmity between you and the Woman, between your offspring and her offspring , he shall bruise your head, and you shall lie in wait at his heel.” Of course there is no direct implication of Jesus, and therefore Mary is not directly implied as well in this pericope. However, faith tells us that the woman being referred to is Eve in a direct literal sense, and Mary in a profound and full literal sense.

Since we talk of “offsprings” or zera’ in Hebrew which means seed both pertaining to plants and posterity, we may as well consider the protoevangelium as having messianic meaning, a portrayal of future states with the current states coated in metaphors. Undeniably Mary is a descendant of Eve, the progenitor of all the offsprings that came after her. But Mary’s case was entirely different, and entirely a mysterious tread; indeed a new chosen progenitor of the period of Salvation brought by God in Jesus.

This text is the most important text implicating the Blessed Mother in the Old Testament, right at the very foundations of the Scriptural life of all believers; the fall which is the beginning of the sojourn of our Spiritual life, our exile from the paradise of original grace. The following important implications of Mary (among many other implications) is that of Isaiah 7:15: Behold, a woman shall bear a son and he shall be named Immanuel. This will later on be repeated and quoted in Matthew 1:23, and completed at the naming of the child in Luke 1:31. The messages point to the messianic role of Jesus, and the election of Mary to be His mother.

In the Old Testament and in the Gospel of Mark, the name was Immanuel or Emmanuel. However Jesus was the name specifically given by the Angel Gabriel. Are they not contradictory? Not at all. Emmanuel, which is Hebrew means God with us is a role, not a name. (As in Gabriel which means messenger of God). They may actually complement each other in their light to the Messianic role of Jesus. Jesus on the other hand is a equivalent to Joshua which means God is Salvation, a description of God and thus a proper name.

This discrepancy of names points to a progressing series of the events of the Messiah. The Old Testament’s Immanuel indicates the dignity of his Messianic role, while New Testament’s Jesus indicates the fulfilment of the message. Roughly it can be said: God is with us and God is salvation. Salvation is with us. The picture of the Messiah, the Mission of Jesus finds completion in this. The God without name, roughly called adonai has been given name, through his Son, Jesus.

Several texts show the joy of the presence and coming of the Messiah, and they all refer to a woman. “Rejoice daughter of Zion, your God is in your midst. Do not fear Zion.” (Zephaniah 3:14-17) and in Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly daughter of Jerusalem. Lo your king comes to you.” The pattern is a clear semblance to “Rejoice favoured one, the Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28-30). The election of Mary as the vessel of the Incarnation is from God, God’s grace overpowering human destiny, the Kecharitomene- the gratia plena, the gull of grace, the gift that has been prepared for Mary even before her conception, and was validated at her fiat. She assumes the role “Eschatological Zion”, and she represents Israel with the coming of the Lord within and to her.

In the Gospel of Luke, Mary is presented most elaborately as compared among the Gospels and even in Acts. However, it is just enough to cover the essentials, the things we need to know about her. The beginnings of the life of Jesus has evoked great joy in his mother. The Annunciation must have been an encounter which effected joy and rejoicing in Mary. Kecharitomene salutation is a proof to that, being a greeting of ‘joy and grace’ at the same time. But it was an annunciation filled with doubt and anxieties as well, that she will be the ark of the covenant, and her plans about her life will be changed dramatically by the succeeding events. Of course, she was human like us. But such is her love for God that she did not have many questions, and that the answers of the Angel Gabriel sufficed.

Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI gives us a nice picture of the plan of God effected in the Incarnation. He relates to us that Incarnation is like Jesus knocking at Mary’s door, looking for her human freedom. Not demanding for it, but wooing it through the Angel Gabriel. Was Mary responsible and free enough to respond to a calling as such? Mary was young undoubtedly. However, Jewish customs have always formed children to be responsible through the chores they do at home.

The visit of Mary to Elizabeth in Luke 1:56 is a proof that she has developed a sense of responsibility and initiative of staying with Elizabeth to help her in her childbirth. The Freedom of Mary was never violated and so we would not even come to the fiat in case. Why is freedom and responsibility important in this context of the Blessed Mother? Because a human person can only respond genuinely to a vocation, the invitation of God, if she or he is free. The element of the human freedom is essential to making a response. The sense of responsibility enhances this element of freedom and thus makes Mary more prepared to receive the Messiah into her womb.

Mary [and Joseph] showed their characters and capacity to be parents at the flight to Egypt to escape from Herod in Matthew 2:16. Imagine the stress they have been through. Mary has just given birth and Joseph just woke up, and the first thing they did was to run, to flee to Egypt with the pressure of soldiers coming after the Child. Imagine Mary did not give birth in good conditions, and Joseph were the one overseeing all these. Do we imagine the sacrifice and the love they have for God? Yes they love God definitely. They were Jews. Yet this little child with them did not add up at this point. They were clueless, but not confused. They were tired, but did not regret.

The birth of Jesus did not really bring about apparent good. The first Christmas was merry at all, and that night was not silent. With the words of the prophet Jeremiah being fulfilled: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” The whole Bethlehem groaned excruciatingly in pain as the infants were sliced and burned right infant of their helpless mothers. All these happened at the expense of the anger and greed and corruption of Herod in his desire to cling to power. The night was not silent at all. The Christmas was not merry in anyway.However, in the eyes of faith, beyond the apparent slaughter of infants shines the star, shines the Messiah which will give life, and justice in God’s time.

I am sure that Mary lived to fulfil her role of being a good mother to Jesus. She was present in all the events of Jesus life, and she was present at the birth of the Church, or the making Catholic of the Church. At the foot of the cross she did not simply stand to weep. Instead, she stood by her son. She stood by her role as the Mother of Jesus Christ. In the whole of the passion account, Mary showed grace as manifested in her silence and tears. She is an image of calmness in the midst of chaos.

The moving and heartbreaking sufferings of her son is known to her alone because right at the time of the passion of Christ, she was also undergoing her own passion, her own crowning of thorns, her own scourging, her own crucifixion at that. No evangelist ever wrote about the feeling of the mother as she stare at her son. It was supposed to be that way, that we all look to the one we have pierced. (John 9:37). But we have set aside the sorrows she had, sorrows that were never known, tears that were never written about. But Grace appears in Mary's silence.

A scene on the "Passion of the Christ"

Hence, Mary as the kecharitomene or full of grace, is not a story of crowns but of thorns. Her identity as favoured and blessed by God did not remain at the level of the Annunciation or the Magnificat where there was joy. Her motherhood of Jesus is not all about celebrations, but also of hardships. The blessedness of Mary also banks equally to the sufferings she had endured, those that were mentioned and not mentioned in the Scriptures. She was a woman and she was a mother, yet what makes her different from the rest is she is kecharitomene.

---

SOURCES:

Luke Timothy Johnson. Daniel Harington, Editor. Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Luke. Vol. 3. The Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1991.

Joseph Ratzinger. Philip Whitmore, Translator. Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. Image, New York, 2012.

Mike Beaumont. Holman Illustrated Guide to the Bible. B & H Publishing Group,Tennessee, 2006.

Juan Luis Bastero. Mary, Mother of the Redeemer: A Mariolgy Textbook. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2006.