t of the greatest of all mysteries and graces, clearly
demonstrates that earthly diadems, dignities, and treasures are of no
consideration with him; and that perfect humility and sanctity alone
constitute true greatness. God, who is almighty, can do all things by
himself, without making use of the concurrence of creatures Nevertheless
he vouchsafes, in his exterior works, {655} most frequently to use their
co-operation. If he reveals his will and speaks to men, it is by the
intervention of his prophets, and these he then enlightens by the
ministry of angels. Many of the ancient patriarchs were honored by him
with the most sublime commissions. By Moses he delivered his people from
the Egyptian slavery, by him he gave them his law, and he appointed him
mediator in his alliance with them. When the Son of God became man, he
could have taken upon him our nature without the co-operation of any
creature; but was pleased to be born of a woman. In the choice of her
whom he raised to this most sublime of all dignities to which any pure
creature could be exalted, he pitched upon her who, by the riches of his
grace and virtues, was of all others the most holy and the most perfect.
The design of this embassy of the archangel is as extraordinary as the
persons concerned in it. It is to give a Saviour to the world, a victim
of propitiation to the sinner, a model to the just, a son to this
Virgin, remaining still a virgin, and a new nature to the Son of God,
the nature of man, capable of suffering pain and anguish in order to the
satisfaction of God's justice for our transgressions. And the Son of God
being to take a human body formed of her substance, the Holy Ghost, who,
by a power all-divine, was to her in place of a spouse, was not content
to render her body capable of giving life to a Man-God, but likewise
enriched her soul with a fulness of grace, that there might be a sort of
proportion between the cause and the effect, and she the better
qualified to co-operate towards this mystery of sanctity.

The angel begins his address to her with _Hail! full of grace_.[1] This
is not the first time that angels appeared to women. But we find not
that they were ever treated with that respect which the angel Gabriel
shows to Mary. Sarah and Agar were visited by these celestial spirits,
but not with an honor like that wherewith the angel on this occasion
addresses the Blessed Virgin, saying, _Hail! full of grace_. He
considers her as the great