If Eve was raised above human nature by that indwelling moral gift which we call grace, is it rash to say that Mary had even greater grace? … And if Eve had this supernatural inward gift given her from the first moment of her personal existence, is it possible to deny that Mary too had this gift from the very first moment of her personal existence? …

She had this special privilege, in order to fit her to become the Mother of her and our Redeemer, to fit her mentally, spiritually for it; so that, by the aid of the first grace, she might so grow in grace, that, when the Angel came and her Lord was at hand, she might be “full of grace,” prepared as far as a creature could be prepared, to receive Him into her bosom.

BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
FROM THROUGH THE YEAR WITH NEWMAN: DAILY READINGS,
EDITED BY BERNARD DIVE (BURNS & OATES, 2012)