Be It Done Unto Me

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin' s name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And the angels words have echoed across the next 2000 years. Every day they are sent heavenward millions, or maybe billions of times from every corner of the world. I would imagine that the Hail Mary is easily the most frequently recited prayer, and if a person says a daily rosary, he probably repeats those words more often than any other thing that he says in a day.

Then there is the Angelus. I wonder how many people pray the Angelus in a day. I think it's my favorite prayer. When I was in grade school, we used to have recess around noon, and when the bells rang for the Angelus, we would all kneel down on the playground and pray. I try to pray it three times a day. Morning and evening are easy to remember because I pray it before and after work. I used to forget at noon, but now I'm next to the bells again, and am able to run over to church. 

Sometimes I've heard people say that if you don't pay attention to what you are saying when you pray, if you don't really meditate on the mysteries of the rosary for example, you are just wasting your time praying. I can't believe this is true, and it's my experience that it is not true. I'm sure that over the years I have said the Angelus many times without thinking about what I was saying, in fact that has probably been more the case than not. However, looking back I can see that those prayers have done their work in me. Mary's fiat has become the central theme of my life, and when I pray it now, I'm almost always paying attention to what I am saying. It's a scary prayer really. It like the picture above with the angel pointing down that long corridor to who knows where.

After we moved back home in October, I wanted to get a print of Fra Angelico's Annunciation to hang in the room where I pray. But when I got ready to order one, it proved to be a much more difficult decision than I had thought. Did I want the one above, or this one?

I like seeing Adam and Eve on the left side. It's like you get the whole story. But then, this one is so nice.

And Mary's face is so nice in this one.

But this one has the nice frame and a little Adam and Eve in the upper left hand corner. And little gold words from the angel's mouth.

And then there are more. Some of them are very similar with just small differences in color, or different trim on the clothing. I'd like to know how many there are. So this is why I don't have the picture yet.

I pray that you will all have a blessed feast day, and that the Word will continue to dwell among us.

AMDG

P.S. I have been writing this in a hospital room while waiting for my husband to have his second cataract surgery. He is back in the room now, doing fine, and I imagine he's pretty hungry.