Practical Prayer: The Angelus

I wouldn’t say I’m a glass-half-empty kind of person, but it’s pretty easy for me to define my day by how the morning goes. Toddler meltdown before 9 a.m.? Bad day. Plan out the day, go to Mass, and drink my coffee without reheating it? Good day.
 
Then a friend mentioned how she doesn’t let herself have a whole bad day. Instead, she “starts over” mid-day and again before dinner. She divides her day into parts, so she only has a bad morning or a bad afternoon—never an entirely bad day. What a brilliant concept!
 
But this isn’t a novel idea for the Church. We know that “His mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). The Lord reminds us to “remember not the former things…behold, I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18-19). Venerable Bruno Lanteri even encourages, “If I should fall even a thousand times a day…I will say immediately, nunc coepi (now I begin), my God, my God!"

I loved the idea of having routine resets throughout the day to help me out of my funk. As I reflected on this approach, I remembered a painting hanging in my mother-in-law’s living room. It depicts two farmers pausing their work to pray. The painting is titled The Angelus. The Angelus is a prayer that recalls the Incarnation of Christ and the Glory we are called to through his Passion and Cross. The Church invites us to pray this particular prayer at 6:00 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m. by reciting three verses of meditation before three Hail Mary prayers. When I reflected on this simple prayer, I thought, ‘this could be my reset.’ A way to remind myself of who God is and that my life is not defined by the first few hours of the day.
 
As a mom of three children under three, I wasn’t quite ready to commit to all three hours, but I could manage the noon hour, right before lunch. I could do that. So, I set an alarm on my phone and saved a beautiful picture with the Angelus prayers to my favorites album for easy access. The next day, I started praying the Angelus at noon when the bells chimed on my phone.
 
I began to notice the beauty of the Incarnation, the love shown by Jesus in loving us to His last breath, and the faithfulness of Mary, who accepted the message of the angel with unwavering trust in God’s goodness. These simple but profound truths became the strength I needed to forgive what had happened before the Angelus and to trust that the Lord would bless the rest of the day.
 
Many mornings, I feel powerless in my vocation as a mother and overwhelmed by my work. But by 12:05 p.m., I feel recharged with love and hope because of this simple prayer. Whether you need a reset in your day or a reminder of the greatness you were made for, this season, I invite you to “begin again”—multiple times a day—through the Angelus or any prayer that reminds you that the Lord wants to make all things new (Revelation 21:5).

--

Jocelyn Ohm is a digital missionary for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, previously having served at Nicholls State University. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband and 3 littles where she is striving to conquer the world for Love through good food and good conversation.