Luke, i, 28. He greeted her with the word Ave or Hail, a word of salutation or congratulation with her, for all that God had done, and was about to do in her favour, and for his choosing her to be the happy instrument, that should give birth to the Source of all our good. O let heaven and earth join in this Ave of salutation and congratulation! as all heaven and earth are highly interested in the issue of this most sacred negotiation, which is to bring us innumerable benefits, both for time and eternity, by the Incarnation of the Son of God! And see, my soul, thou never forget to testify thy grateful sense of the share designed for thee in these graces and benedictions, by daily joining with suitable devotion, in this holy salutation and congratulation, as often as thou repeatest the Ave Maria.
Consider 2dly, how the Angel, in his salutation, styles the Blessed Virgin full of grace; to signify the supereminent degree of divine grace, to which God elevated her soul, to prepare her to be the mother of his Son. For she was full of all that habitual grace, which justifies and sanctifies the soul; full of faith and hope: full of divine charity, in both its branches; ever loving God with her whole heart, with
