The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Favor ... is also rendered "grace."  We are not told just how she had come to receive such favor in the sight of God; but the burst of praise from her lips, later recorded in this chapter, called the Magnificat, reveals an intimate knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, a deep and abiding trust in God, accompanied by a life of virtue and integrity, these having ever been fundamental prerequisites for the receiving of favor in the sight of God.