Under the Old Testament, for angels to appear to
men was considered a very great honor, and if men showed respect to angels,
they were thought to deserve the highest praise for it. Thus, Abraham is
praised in Scripture for entertaining angels and treating them with respect.
But there was never any talk of an angel showing respect to a human being until
one approached the Virgin with the respectful greeting, Hail.
The reason why under the Old Testament men showed respect to angels and not angels to men was that the angels were greater than men. They were greater in three respects. As regards the dignity of their respective natures, the angels were spiritual by nature, men corruptible. As regards their nearness to God, the angels were intimate with him and were always in his presence, while men were estranged from him and kept at a distance by their sins. Thirdly, the angels were superior because they possessed the shining light of God's grace to a greater degree. They had the fullest of shares in the divine light—which was why, whenever they appeared on earth, they appeared in light. But men, though not entirely devoid of the light of grace, had little of it, and the little they had was wrapped in darkness.
It would thus not have been seemly for an angel to show respect to a human being until one was found to surpass the angels in those three particulars. The only person to do that was the blessed Virgin. She was superior to the angels first in grace, which she possessed in greater fulness than any of them, as is suggested by the respectful way an angel called her full of grace. Secondly, she surpassed them in intimacy with God. This too was admitted by an angel when Gabriel said, The Lord is with thee. By "the Lord" he meant the Father, who was with Mary because he is always with his Son, in a way that he is with no angel or any other creature at all. "The Lord" also meant the Son, who was with the blessed Virgin in her womb; so that in that respect he was not with the angel in the way he was with her—he was with her as her Son but with the angel as his Lord. And again, "the Lord" meant the Holy Spirit, who was with the blessed Virgin as in a temple (which is why we call her the Lord's temple, the sanctuary of the Holy because it was 'by him that she conceived. Thirdly, she surpassed the angels in purity, because besides being pure herself, she also obtained purity for others. In herself she was as pure as it was possible to be. She was utterly free from guilt, as she had never fallen into sin, either mortal or venial; and she was equally devoid of the need to suffer punishment.
Three curses had been laid on the human race because of its sin. The first, which concerned women, was that conception should involve corruption for them, their children be a burden to carry in the womb and their delivery be attended with pain. But the blessed Virgin was free from all that. Conceiving brought her no corruption; carrying the Savior in her womb was a comfort to her; his birth was a delight. The second curse, the one directed at men, was that they should earn their bread with the sweat of their brows. From that necessity too, the Virgin was exempt, for as the apostle says, virgins are free from concern about the things of this world and are intent on God alone. The third curse, common to men and women alike, was that they should ultimately return to dust. That fate again the Virgin escaped, as she was taken up bodily into heaven. Being thus freed from all three disabilities, she was blessed among women because she alone was proof against cursing and could bear our blessing and open the gates of paradise. So, the name Mary, which means "star of the sea", fits her well; for just as the sight of a star at sea enables sailors to set their course for the harbor, so the sight of Mary sets Christians on the road to glory.
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