Saturday, March 25, 2006

The Feast of the Annunciation


In honor of today's Feast of the Annunciation, I wanted to post The Angelus Prayer.





The Angelus
The Angelus is traditionally recited morning (6:00 a.m.), noon and evening (6:00 p.m.) throughout the year except during the Easter Season when the Regina Coeli is recited instead.

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
All: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death, Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary, etc.

V. And the Word was made Flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, etc.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

LET US PRAY

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.


The painting above is The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet. Being vaguely aware of this painting but not knowing the title, for years I never knew it depicted something as Catholic as a couple stopping their work to recite the Angelus Prayer. The bells of the local church would alert the villagers that it was time for prayer.

If you want to follow the scriptural directive to "pray always" (1 Thes. 5,17) this is one way to add prayer to your day.

8 comments:

Charley said...

Fabulous entry. My wife and I love the magnificat for much the same reason.

Charley
http://journals.aol.com/CDittric77/Courage

Staying in Balance said...

Thanks, Charley! Good luck on your job change.

Matthew said...

Thank you for posting the Angelus. I try to pray it everyday but can usually only pray it once. I'm usually very busy by 6AM and at 12 Noon, so I try to at least pray it at 6 PM

Staying in Balance said...

That's a good idea. I usually go through my entire day's prayer before I go to bed! :)

Renaud said...

Can I recommend a French initiative about Angelus :
http://jeprielangelus.blogspot.com/ "Je prie l'Angélus" = I pray the Angelus. French and latin available.
With a small button to add on your site if you join the Angelus prayer ring.
For myself, I hardly pray it more than once a day. But this is such a nice 2-minutes prayer anywhere you are.

Mickaël said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mickaël said...

Hi,

Renaud told me that he wrote about "Je prie l'Angélus" here.

I just created an english version here: http://ipraytheangelus.blogspot.com

Don't hesitate to send me your suggestions and corrections for my english text.

Of course, you're welcomed to participate!

Staying in Balance said...

Merci, Renaud et Mickael! I will check them both out! :)

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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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