On March 25, Roman Catholics celebrate what they call the Feast of the Annunciation. A Practical Catholic Dictionary defines the Annunciation as:

“The announcement of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ. The angel greeted Mary with the words, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.’ Mary did not understand this strange greeting. The angel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.’ He told her that she was to have a son whom she was to name Jesus. ‘He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He shall be king over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.’

“Mary knew that one of the prophecies concerning the Messias was that he was to come from the race of David. Still troubled at the angel’s words, she asked him how these things would be possible. The Angel Gabriel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon the; and therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God. Mary freely accepted God’s will when she said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word,’ Luke I 28-38.

“The Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated March 25 and is one of the principle feasts of Our Lady. If March 25 occurs in Holy Week or Easter Week, the celebration is transferred to the Monday after Low Sunday. The first Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is the Annunciation.”

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 23

This is yet another proof that the Roman Catholic Virgin Mary is not the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, but another Mary. According to the Holy Bible, the Angel Gabriel neither called Mary, the mother of Jesus, “full of grace” nor told her that she had found grace with God. This is the dialogue according to the King James Bible:

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

“Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Luke 1:26-35

According to the King James, the angel Gabriel rather than greet the mother of Jesus with “Hail full of grace,” greeted her with “Hail thou that art highly favored.” Now this may not seem like much of a distinction to nominal Christians, but to Roman Catholics and Protestants, it is very important.

You see, Roman Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception: the doctrine the Virgin Mary was not born with original sin like all other humans (except the Lord Jesus). They believe that the angel Gabriel greeted her with with “Hail, Mary, full of grace” because was she was sinless, and therefore deserved the honor to give birth to the Lord Jesus. Catholics are taught that the Virgin Mary is a “channel of grace,” and that she can impart this grace to Catholics provided they keep the seven Sacraments. When a Catholic keeps the Sacraments, he is said to be in a “state of grace.”

Protestants know that that according to the Bible, Mary, the mother of our Lord was a sinner, like we are. It was not because of any special holiness on her part, that God selected her to be the mother of our Savior. Neither Mary nor the Virgin Mary can impart to grace to anyone. Only God can impart grace.

The Annunciation, like everything else in Roman Catholicism, has a pagan origin. The learned historian Alexander Hislop says this:

“Before our Lord was either conceived or born, that very day set down in the Popish calender for the ‘Annunciation of the Virgin’ was observed in pagan Rome in honor of Cebele, the Mother of the Babylonian Messiah.”

The Two Babylons, p. 102

And, in case you doubt that Cebele is the Virgin Mary, Hislop says this:

“The common title of Cebele at Rome was Domina, or “the Lady.”

The Two Babylons, p. 103

Cebele is another name of Semiramis, the wife of the great rebel, Nimrod. At Babylon, as in Rome, Semiramis was called Beltis: literally The Lady.