t’s the feast of the Annunciation today – the day on which Jesus’ human life began and therefore nine months until Christmas.
Take a moment to appreciate this Millet masterpiece. Even if you have never seen the image before, you will guess that these peasants are praying.
When the one who commissioned this painting in the mid- 1800’s changed his mind and wouldn’t buy the completed work, Millet added a church bell tower and renamed his work “Angelus”.
Many of us remember the convent or church bell tolling at midday and early evening at 6. (the 6am bell was often not rung at the request of neighbours). Whatever the Catholic locals were doing when the the bell tolled, at the distinctive 3,3,3,9 ring, all would stop, mid sentence, mid activity. Catholics would stand or kneel to pray.
Some creative geek has designed an Angelus app for a smartphone. I use it, and you can download it to your phone from this link: Angelus App
The bell was the the call to prayer, and the only introduction necessary before the proclamation heralding the incarnation was: “The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.” This is the moment of the Annunciation, and this is the feast that we celebrate today.
This prayer of incarnation interrupts our routines and busyness. While it may be difficult to find others to pray the Angelus with, there is nothing to stop us praying alone. Perhaps the near-midday ring of a nearby phone, or the moment of inserting the key in the car ignition could be for you an ‘Angelus Bell’.
The message of the angel interrupted Mary’s daily routine and life’s dreams to such an extent that ‘she was greatly troubled’. “But how can this be…”.
From the moment of Mary’s response “be it done unto me, according to thy Word”, Mary life was fulfilled. This does not mean that Mary lived in blissful earthly happiness every subsequent moment. Jump ahead 12 years to her search for a missing son, or 33 years later to the moment when she cradled her dead son in her arms. But always, in the depth of her heart, she was at peace in God.
This depth of peace, at a deeper level than all daily demands and regular routines, is also the deepest desire of every human person. This peace is our “default setting“.
There is a challenge in allowing God to enter our lives. It is not a simple or easy birth. In the moment of deepest desire for the fulness of God’s life, we also feel the pain of having to let go of our old attachments.
While we know that our personal dreams, projects and likes can never deliver the depth of joy and peace we desire, there is a deceptive and superficial comfort in these familiar traps.
But deceptive and superficial is not enough for souls who seek truth and the life of the depth of the heart. With the Annunciation we celebrate the fact that this life is not our own discovery or achievement. This life-giving reality has broken into our life, interrupting our plans and giving purpose to our pain.
In the Incarnation the word has become flesh, and dwells among us.
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