[bdeaner]

Grace simply does not mean sinlessness. Infact it means the opposite, the more Grace God shows to one, the more sin that one has to be overlooked in or do be blessed.

Grace actually means a gift that is unearned, or gratuitous (notice the etymological link between the words grace and gratuity). In theology, grace is the gift of righteousness or justification that is given to persons by God without our having earned or merited it. This is a basic theological point on which Catholics and Protestants are in complete agreement (but not Orthodox Catholics, as you will see above in another discussion).

So when Mary is said to be 'full of grace,' this means she is full of righteousness that is not merited nor earned, endowed by God, specifically for the purpose of her becoming the unsoiled Ark within which the Word made flesh may be carried into the world.

[DungeonMaster]

So when Mary is said to be 'full of grace,' this means she is full of righteousness that is not merited nor earned, endowed by God, specifically for the purpose of her becoming the unsoiled Ark within which the Word made flesh may be carried into the world.

No it does not mean that righteousness is the gift at all!!! We seem to be in agreement that the gift was not merited but the gift is all the blessings that go along with being the "Mother of the Lord", but there is no intrinsic righteousness built into the gift.