The Angelus

The Angelus is a Marian devotion centered on the mystery of the Incarnation. This devotion dates to at least 700 years ago. The name of this devotion is derived from the opening words in the Latin translation, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ.

The Angelus consists of three Biblical verses describing the mystery (the first two from Luke's account of the Annunciation, the third from John's declaration of the incarnation) Traditionally, the Angelus is recited as versicle and response, with a Hail Mary said between each verse and response.

Tradition has the recitation of the Angelus at 6:00 AM, Noon, and 6:00 PM. It slightly resembles the scheduled hours of prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. In days gone by, the Angelus was announced by bell tolls, three strikes of the bell per verse and canticle, for a total of 9 rings. In olden days all knelt at the third verse.

Catholics are encouraged to pray the Angelus as a way of keeping everpresent in mind the Incarnation Mystery and Mary's faithfulness to the will of God.

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

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.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, 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.

Our Lady of Sorrows

I have a statue of the Virgine Perdonlente, Our Lady of sorrows, in my parish office. The usual reaction is that Mary looks "sad", "not feeling well", or simply, "scary". My stock response, "You would also look that way if your son was being crucified before you".

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27

When the rest of the men ran, John and the women stood at the cross watching in horror the execution of Jesus. In this group, Mary is the first named.

Mary was no stranger to pain in her life. From the moment of her acceptance of God's invitation to be the mother of His Son, her life was full of rejection, pain, and quiet suffering. The old Simeon spoke in profecy to Mary, "And you yourself, a sword shall pierce your heart". And indeed, a sword did pierce her heart.

As mother of Jesus, it must not have been easy to stand and watch her beloved son being lost (how do you explain that one to God?), being rejected, threatened, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and laid in a tomb long before his time. Stounding, yet, is the fact that Mary stood by her son even in his most painful moments. I have often wondered what gave Mary the strength to remain faithful, and of course, it was her faithfulness in God. She understood quite well that life was not fair and that others were not as loving as she was, and that not everyone always looked for the good in others. She drew from her own ability to love, to look for the greater good, and an awareness of the presence of God in her life to accept the sorrows she experienced.

Her feast day is celebrated on September 15. Several Religious Orders have devotions to the sorrows of Mary. The Servites and the Passionist are a couple. The Servites, as part of their spiritual patrimony, have given us the Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows. It differs from the traditional Dominican Rosary in that instead of the traditional 5 decades there are 7-- one for each of the sorrows of Our Lady: 1. The Prophecy of Simeon, 2. The Flight to Egypt, 3. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple, 4. Mary's Encounter with Jesus on the Way to Calvary, 5. The Crucifixion, 6. The Descent of the Body of Jesus from the Cross, 7. The Laying of Jesus in the Tomb.

So why should we be concerned with the Sorrows of Mary, and why do I continue to have a "scary" statue of Mary in my office? Because Mary in her sorrows serves as an inspiration for us. When life gets rough and it seems that we can't go on, Mary reminds us to get to God. Who better to offer solace and encouragement in our difficulties than she who's heart was pierced with a life time of sorrows?

Below I offer a simple prayer to our Lady of Sorrows.

Most holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, you stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of your dying Son. Look with a mother's tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before you. I venerate your sorrows and I place my requests with filial confidence in the sanctuary of your wounded heart.

Present them, I beseech you, on my behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of His own most sacred passion and death, together with your sufferings at the foot of the cross. Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of my petition. To whom shall I have recourse in my wants and miseries if not to you, Mother of Mercy? You have drunk so deeply of the chalice of your Son, you can compassionate our sorrows.

Holy Mary, your soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of your divine Son. Intercede for me and obtain for me from Jesus if it be for His honor and glory and for my good. Amen.

Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for Us.

Tomorrow on the Angelus.

Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fátima is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on this day of this year.

The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Lucia went on to enter the religious life and remained a nun until her death in 2005. The younger two died in the flu epidemic of 1919. Pope John Paul II declared the siblings "blessed" in 2000.

A title often associated with Our Lady of Fatima is that of Our Lady of the Rosary because the children related that the Lady in the apparition specifically identified Herself as "the Lady of the Rosary." It is also common to see a combination of these titles, i.e., Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima.

May is considered the month of Mary. In previous generations children processed into churches to place flowers at the foot of Mary and her statues were crowned with crowns of flowers. Another tradition, much more popular with the older folk is the prayer of the Rosary. The rosary in essence is both a tool of devotion and meditation in which Mary is honored as the Theotokos while contemplating and entering into the depth of the mysteries of her Son's life.

Our lives are often full of appointments, deadlines, phone calls, emails, entertainment, duties, and distractions that silence and solitude often are commodities (even an inconvenience). But for the spiritual seeker, however, silence and solitude is the place of encounter where God speaks eloquently and one is refreshed, nourished and loved.

The Rosary, in it's simple repetition and prayers invites one into that silence. Futheremore, the Rosary, Our Lady of Fatima encouraged, is a tool to help us persevere in holiness and purity in our journey toward salvation.

Personally, I often use the times I have for a long walk to pray the Rosary. Usually, this is in the mornings. With the Rosary in my hand, the Lord's life in my mind, and Mary by my side, grace abounds for the rest of the day.

During this month of May I invite you to pray the Rosary. Cast yourself into the loving arms of Mother Mary where she holds us, as she once held her Son, in tender care before her Son. I often carry rosaries with me to give to people. If you see me, ask for one if you need one.

I am making attempts to post more on Mary during this month.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for Us!

On Mother's Day

On the great Solemnity of Pentecost we also celebrate Mother's Day here in the United States. And how appropriate that the two conincide. To know the love of a mother is to experience the love of the Holy Spirit.

The life-giving Spirit is made manifest in a mother's ability to co-share with the great Spirit in bringing new life into existence. The Spirit, which proceeds from the love of Father and Son is shown in sleepless nights and sacrifices great and small made for the sake of a mother's child.

And as only the Spirit can enable one to acknowledge Jesus as Christ, so does a mother bring her child to knowledge of God in being the first to fold her child's hands in prayer.

On this day, I thank my own mother for her love and care, for her companionship, for her mothering, and most importantly, for the gift of faith-- for folding my hands in prayer each night as a child and teaching me of the great love that God has for me-- but most importantly, for being a tangible and poignant manifestation of that love.

May Mother Mary watch over all mothers,

May she who beheld the Christ child in love and wonder inspire mothers to behold the gift of life as mystery and sacred. May she who pointed others to her son, "Do as he says", inspire mothers to point their children to Him. May she who bore all of her son's mysteries with tender contemplation of the love of God, inspire mothers to behold in patience and understading the many surprises a child's live brings. And may she, who held the body of her Son and trusted in the greater will of the Father, inspire mothers to stand before God and whisper in tenderness the name of their own child.

Happy Mother's Day!

On Pentecost

Come, Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come Father of the poor!
Come source of all our store!
Come within our bosoms shine!

Thou, of comforters the best;
Thou, the soul's most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat,
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine
Shine within these hearts of Thine.
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, man has naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sev'nfold gift descend;

Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
et emítte caélitus
lucis tuae rádium.

Veni, pater páuperum,
veni, dator múnerum,
veni, lumen córdium.

Consolator óptime,
dulcis hospes animae.
dulce refrigerium.

In labóre réquies,
in aestu tempéries,
in fletu solácium.

O lux beatíssima,
reple cordis íntima
tuórum fidélium.

Sine tuo númine,
nihil est in hómine,
nihil est innoxium.

Lava quod est sórdidum,
riga quod est áridum,
sana quod est sáucium.

Flecte quod est rígidum,
fove quod est frigidum,
rege quod est devium.

Da tuis fidélibus,
in te confidéntibus,
sacrum septenárium.

Da virtútis méritum
da salútis éxitum,
da perénne gáudium.
Amen. Alleluia

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
And fill the souls which Thou hast made.

O Comforter, to Thee we cry,
To Thee, the Gift of God Most High,
The font of life, and fire of love,
And sweet anointing from above.

The sevenfold gifts of grace are Thine,
O finger of the hand Divine,
True promise of the Father, Thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.

Thy light to every thought impart
And shed Thy love in every heart;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Drive far away our wily Foe,
And Thine abiding peace bestow;
If Thou be our protecting Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.

Through Thee may we the Father learn,
And know the Son, and Thee discern,
Who art of both; and thus adore
In perfect faith forevermore.

Praise we the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
And may the Son on us bestow
The gifts that from the Spirit flow.

Amen

Veni Creator Spiritus

Veni, Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita;
Implesuperna graatia
Quae tu creasti pectora.

Qui diceris Paraclitus,
Donum Dei altissimi,
Fons vivus, ignis caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.

Tu septiformis munere,
Dextræ Dei tu digitus,
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus,
Infunde amorum cordibus,
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus;
Ductore sic te prævio,
Vitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Noscamus atque Filium,
Te utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.

Deo Patri sit gloria,
Et Filio, quia mortuis,
Surrexit ac Paraclito,
In sæculorum sæcula.

Amen