With the Feast of the Annunciation approaching – although it will be overshadowed by March 25th also being the fifth Sunday of Lent this year – I am thinking more purposefully about a centuries-old devotional practice I (re-)committed myself to some months ago, namely the praying of the Angelus at noontime. And yes, remembering to pray the Angelus has been made simple by the fact that there is an Angelus Bell App for the iPhone. Initially, I tried to be in a place at noon where I could simply take time out for a moment of prayer. Soon, however, I discovered the depth of praying the Angelus when I actually let it simply interrupt whatever I was doing at the moment. Pausing in my kitchen one day at noon, I thought of Mary, being interrupted in her quotidian routine by the Angel, and by the Annunciation of the Word becoming flesh. There is something profoundly important about allowing God to interrupt us and our routines, something that keeps alive in us attentiveness to the utterly surprising ways in which God draws near.
Praying the Angelus: The Interruption of the Annunciation
Comments
13 responses to “Praying the Angelus: The Interruption of the Annunciation”
-
I’ve been praying the office on the train platform these days, and finding the interruption of the train early arriving a useful way of remembering that prayer isn’t necessarily about my orderly plan for it.
Thanks for this reminder to let ourselves be disturbed…
-
I used the Annunciation narrative from Luke’s Gospel as an opening reading for a class session in a course on spirituality, then added the Angelus as the opening prayer. Nobody knew the words, even though it was a class of older adults.
Even though I prefer more modern, cleaner translations, I have never been able to memorize the Angelus closing prayer in its new translation; but I can still rattle through “Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord . . . “ -
An interesting point of Church History is that we owe the imposition of the custom of the Angelus to Pope Alexander VI Borgia. So at least he did some thing right.
-
Until Gregory’s calendar came to be, March 25 was New Year’s day, celebrated with an octave ending on April 1 with great festivity. After Gregory’s calender appeared, there were those who didn’t like it (can you believe?) and did not want to lose their revelries on April 1. They were the “April Fools”……
-
And, of course, until that calendar change September really was the 7th month, October the 8th, etc.
-
Ann, There is no finer version of the concluding collect to the Angelus than: “Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord…” Some things stick with us, and we’re better off with them.
On a side note, the Eastern rites, both Catholic and Orthodox never displace Annunciation. I remember in 2005 when it fell on Great Friday (New Calendar), hearing the vesperal hymns of both Great Friday and Annunication interspersed together at the Burial Vespers and Divine Liturgy. It was so powerful. The whole drama of salvation on one day! The Divine Liturgy is celebrated even on Great Friday if Annunciation coincides with that day. It’s that important. The last time they fell that way in the West was 1932, but back then all the Catholic Eastern rites were still following the traditional Julian reckoning so it was not an issue. The last time it happened on the Orthodox Julian calendar was 1972.
-
If I remember correctly, Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation did fall on the same day in the Western Roman calendar as recently as 2005.
-
-
Thank you for the inspiration. I like to pray the Hours. The Angelus and Mary are a grace-filled invitation 🙂
-
In my parish the weekday “noon Mass” is always preceded by the Angelus or Regina Coeli. Mass actually starts at 12:10 pm, and is listed at that time in the parish bulletin. Most know that this ten-minute delay also allows Father enough time to hear the last confession and then vest. It is also customary in our parish for all present to recite the St. Michael Prayer while the priest returns to the sacristy after the dismissal.
The recitation of the Angelus or Regina Coeli before midday Mass is a beautiful custom. I wish more parishes did this. The addition of prayers before and after Mass might not be possible during early morning Masses (at those Masses sometimes even brief preaching is omitted.) If there is time and the congregants agree, then I don’t see why additional prayers should not be added before and after a ferial Mass.
-
My experience has been that the “additional prayers” before and/or after Mass seem to become more important than the Celebration of The Eucharist itself. The story exists in this diocese of a priest who having prayed the Rite of Committal at a burial site then said: “Now let’s say some real prayers” and proceeded to lead the folks in several Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Bes. I’ve noticed the response of the congregation takes on a whole different tone (louder and more actively involved) when Father invites them to say some prayers for the members of the armed forces and peace, and for the conversion of the Democrats (not his exact words, but his exact meaning).
-
Ann -I’m with you about the concluding prayer for the Angelus. “Pour forth we beseech, Thee, O Lord…” is embedded in my mind and I will probably pray it to my dying day. (I suuppose even with dementia, I’ll remember it as it’s a prayer I learned in early grade school.) One of the neat things about the Angelus (and Regina Coeli) is that once they are committed to memory, there’s no forgetting them. I’m old enough to remember hearing the church bells runs at 6 am, noon and 6 pm (at one time I was the fellow who actually got to get the bells ringing), announcing the angelus. As a Benedictine monk, we rang the bells and prayed the Angelus before lunch and dinner. Even now, I have a Tibetean prayer bowl that I use to “ring” the angelus when I’m home – after Lauds, after Terce and after Compline. (BTW, Ann, are you the theologian I met several years ago at a retreat at St. Mary’s Monastery, Petersham, given by Sister Donald, OSB CAM as part of the yahoo group MonasticLife? Tom K.
-
Teresa wrote in her original post: “There is something profoundly important about allowing God to interrupt us and our routines, something that keeps alive in us attentiveness to the utterly surprising ways in which God draws near.”
I just wanted to add, this being a list sponsored by a Benedictine and all, that this very idea is expressed in the directive norms for the monastic celebration of the LOH (Liturgy of the Hours.) “…at least one hour in the Daytime (must be observed) so that the traditon of praying during the day in the mist of daily labor be kept.” Personally, without wanting to lay any sort of burden on anyone, the idea of stopping what one is doing and pause for a few moments of prayer in the midst of the day, does not seem to be a bad thing – not an easy thing, but something one could add to one’s day. I’ve always found it rather interesting that St. Benedict, in the Rule, tends to assign the same psalms to the “little hours” making them easy to memorize and pray by heart. I also appreciate the idea that the day hours should not be long or drawn out…more of a brief pause during the day, in the midst of what one is doing. Hugs, Tom K.-
I agree with you, Tom, about the liturgy of the hours also inviting one to stop what one if doing, for prayer, at certain times of the day. One of my troubles is that that can indeed become the routine of one’s day. Maybe it’s because praying the Angelus is still fresh for me, maybe it’s because I let the iPhone Angelus bell surprise me (yesterday, it rang while I was standing in line at the grocery check-out), I have not yet managed to make it a routine…
-
by
Please leave a reply.