Pray the Angelus prayer for peace, especially if you are struggling with a lack of discipline in your prayer life. Try the Angelus prayer. It is a short prayer that will reorient your mind toward God three times a day. The Angelus prayer is prayed three times a day, typically at 6 am, 12 noon, and 6 pm. This ancient prayer reminds us to order our lives in a way that puts God first.
The Angelus is a great prayer for working adults and students because it only takes a few minutes to pray and it can be prayed before work, at the lunch hour, and at the end of your work day. Just having a routine prayer every so many hours will force you to keep God first in your life.
The image above was painted in the 1850s by the French painter Jean-Francois Millet. It depicts a farming couple praying the Angelus prayer time at dusk, or 6 pm. This very short prayer can be easily memorized. The idea is to force yourself to pause what you are doing and focus on prayer at the same time every day. The Angelus prayer orders our lives, because it centers our day around prayer. It reminds us about the Incarnation of Christ and our need to put Him first. And because it is so short, and takes only a couple of minutes to pray, it does not distract us from what we need to be doing.
The Angelus prayer Meditates on the Incarnation of Christ
The opening lines of the Angelus prayer begin, “The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.”
The Angelus prayer reminds us of the Gospel verses which recall the Incarnation of Christ, how the Word entered the world as our Lord and Savior.
Personalizing the Angelus Prayer Time Routine
Although the Angelus is traditionally said three times a day, at 6 am, noon and 6 pm, it can also be prayed at anytime. You can set aside times in your daily schedule to stop what you are doing and pray this prayer.
The Angelus is not prayed during the Easter season. This is because the “Regina Caeli” celebrates the Resurrection of Christ and the Angelus focuses on the Incarnation of Christ. For information on the Regina Coeli, visit: a hymn of prayer.
Pray the Angelus Prayer
℣. The Angel of the Lord declared unto 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, 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.
℣. And the Word was made Flesh.
℟. And dwelt among us.
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.
℣. 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.
The Angelus Prayer promotes Spiritual Discipline
The petition to be made worthy of the promises of Christ is also found in the Rosary, another Biblical prayer. Jesus died so we might have eternal life. When we pray the Angelus with devotion and discipline, we are emulate Mary’s faith in God.
“Devotion is a certain act of the will by which man gives himself promptly to divine service.” St. Thomas Aquinas
“But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.” St Margaret Mary Alacoque
“Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?” St Gerard Majella
One Response
I had been praying for the conversion of someone who hurt me deeply. I said my prayers and went to bed. At 2am I heard “Get up and pray The Angelus for him.” I said I don’t know The Angeus. I was told to look it up. I said the prayer and went back to sleep
Once again at 4am I heard the same command. I sat up in bed and began to pray. Later I learned that he was contemplating suicide that night. Now I pray The Angelus. If God woke me up to pray a prayer I didn’t even know about it must be pleasing to him.