March 25 2025 - Annunciation - Angelus Prayer (school mass)

 For many years now, the very first thing I do in the morning—before getting up and getting ready for the day, before I check my emails and text messages, before I check my calendar, before I make my breakfast, before even getting out of bed—is that I pray a prayer inspired by the feast we celebrate today. 

It is called the Angelus prayer—angelus is the latin word for An
gel—and it goes something like this: The Angel of the Lord announced to mary, that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. And then I pray the Hail Mary. Then, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” And then I pray the Hail Mary, and then “The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”, and then I pray the Hail Mary. And then there is a concluding portion.

But those three ideas—that the angel announced God’s plan to Mary, that she said yes, and that because of that yes, God took flesh—are three very important ideas—three ideas which are at the heart of today’s feast—and three ideas that it is very good to start your day with.

Why? For one, it is good to be reminded that God has a plan for each one of us, that we should be listening to the voices of God’s Holy Angels, and that Mary is at the heart of that plan. Secondly, it’s good to be reminded that when God’s plan is made known to us, we are supposed to say “yes” to God, God I am your handmaid, God let me be your servant in all things, in every way. And Thirdly, it is very important to recall that God really and truly took flesh—the Word took flesh—because it reminds us of who Jesus is—truly God and truly man and that we are called to be his disciples. God became one of us, so that we can become like Him.

So I invite you every day, pray that Angelus prayer. By the way, I don’t just pray it once, I pray it three times, upon waking, at noon, when the noon bells ring here at Church, and at six pm, when they ring again, they are, after all, called the Angelus bells, for that reason.

Pray the Angelus, so that your day can be infused with God’s goodness, so that you can recall the presence of the Angels, the example and goodness of our blessed mother, and that we may become more and more like Christ every day, God who took flesh that we may share in his divinity for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.