HELPS Word-studies Cognate: 5487 xaritóō (from 5486 /xárisma, "grace," see there) – properly, highly-favored because receptive to God's grace. 5487 (xaritóō) is used twice in the NT (Lk 1:28 and Eph 1:6), both times of God extending Himself to freely bestow grace (favor).
“The justification used by the Catholic teaching is that the term favored one was a special title addressed to her.”
No. That is not a justification. That is an explanation. Also, it is not “favored one” - that is merely a translation and not even the one traditionally favored (no pun intended) by Catholics. The Greek term is kecharitomene.
So based on this, the greek interlinear would translate it along these lines:
and having come to her, he said, Greetings (you) favored with grace! The Lord (is) with you[blessed are you among women].
Note: this address to Mary is not in caps indicating it is not a title. elsewhere in the Bible where titles are indicated they are in caps.
depending on the text the blessed are you among women, is in question. This is noted in brackets in the greek interlinear. NASB doesn't translate it; the 4th edition Greek New Testament (United Bible Societies doesn't), KJV does.
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. KJV
And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." NASB
the tense is perfect tense which indicates an continuous action with results continuing in the present(from the speaker's perspective, not the readers)
in Ephesians the tense is aorist which generally translates as an undefined action that normally occurs in the past. So we could translate this as the grace that was freely bestowed upon us.....
“The justification used by the Catholic teaching is that the term favored one was a special title addressed to her.” No. That is not a justification. That is an explanation. Also, it is not “favored one” - that is merely a translation and not even the one traditionally favored (no pun intended) by Catholics. The Greek term is kecharitomene.
According to Catholic.com (http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/hail-mary-conceived-without-sin) this was a title given to Mary
First, according to biblical scholars (as well as Pope John Paul II), the angel did more than simply greet Mary. The angel actually communicated a new name or title to her. (cf. Redemptoris Mater, 8, 9). In Greek, the greeting was kaire, kekaritomene, or "Hail, full of grace." catholic.com
Now, was Mary favored by God for this special purpose of being the mother of Jesus? Yes. Any woman chosen by God for this purpose would have to be favored by God.
Will this status be taken away? No...not based on the tense of the Greek.
Does this make Mary any better than you or I? Only in the sense that she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus.
If she were to be accorded a special status then the KJV would not have translated as blessed are you among women.
Note it doesn't say mankind here. Only women.
And indeed she was favored among women.
“It’s the same verb, but in different tenses.”
Which in Greek means two different meanings and implications. Thanks for playing.