The Angelus

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 32, 26 August 1925, Page 57

The Angelus

. The appeal of the Angelus has made captive; the mind of Christian people. -In the lands' m where it had accustomed sway its tones spin- ■) tualised the hour ; and the place. In the < I hearts where it owns answering pulses it brings moments of reverent pause. Poet and Painter have felt the "glow of it and the magic of its spell. Whether at the evening bell or in the high noon of the day, it lifts /. v the spirit upward and brings down upon the :: earth the sense of a benediction. And to ; the willing, the reverent, the devout, it' does V come down in blessing. ' It is an echo of the great message of salvation. If we stop a moment to hearken, our ‘ || • f * * hearts re-echo back to celestial listeners the j, words brought from above by the Angel; and with minds bowed in prayerful acclaim wo join our voices to repeat: *• ’*• € Ave Maria Be it done according to thy word. r And the 'Word was made flesh and dwelt '■■-'Tj amongst us. ; Just a few instants to recall that great i moment of all earthly times which was ‘to transfigure' the destiny of mankind and to spell anew the history of the world; which in "sooth “blotted out the handwriting which was against us.” Amidst the engrossments of daily toils the Angelus ' tolls and tells v of a Divine Lifegiving to be blood kin to us all; bringing the Divinity to the earth, to our hands, our hearts, to our Faith and Love. Is it too s'■' 'I often to recall it daily? Is it too much, in b the long circle of the hours, to yield to it a .. moment’s,pause? What a little thing it is, that brief pause. But if faithfully adhered ; to, impressed upon remembrance, surely in “'"'the unseen realms of the spirit’s valuations that pause stands recorded for the Great • Day. It steadies the will to retain its claim and its hold upon God’s Heaven, and upon the Saviour who came to reclaim that Heaven for usthe Divine Child promised and bestowed upon the human race to salvage it from its wreckings; to inspire it with the • grace and the assurances of His - Truths; to beckon to it and comfort it with the charm, - the tenderness, the Divine appealing of His Love. . So adoringly we say: / And the Word was made flesh and dwelt - > . amongst us. ' : - . : ■ .Oh sweet ■ custom. Oh 1 briefly sung but ; dear notes of faith and of ultimate aspiration. . v ;T f, There are melodies of early remembrance, or which circumstances has impressed upon our heart’s hearing. How they come back to us, amid the discordances of life, with their erstwhile yet ever renewed appeal. A few notes perhaps may be barely more'than the title-name r and ! the occurrence it recalls. Still what recurrent echoes are awakened'in our memory. SweeJ in soihe such way to remembering ears are the - simple tones of the Angelus/' / . : ' : r .V When the years have rolled over us, and y . their billowing surges grow feebler and fainj ter, how warmingly . the \ few'' minutes revert / to mind which we . yielded to recall that sur preme moment which was to usher in the 'S' Saviour—minutes in which oiir lips were

hallowed by holy salutations, praise and prayer. . Thank God we remembered 'to re-; - . , ■ 1 - ' ■■ • ■■•'■l ■'«; peat them. May it be remembered of *us as again we say: - r v :■ '• , r . , ■ ■ Ave Maria. > - , v - Be it done according to thy word. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt * * . amongst us. • >; ,• What better time than this year of ■ Jubilee if hitherto unheqdful, to attune our spirit to the call which the Angelus rings out |or us all. If only around mid-day—unobtrus-ively if need be—our minds bow in recollection -and in joined appeal with so many re; joicing voices, how blessed those minutes may

.prove in the long course of life. They will::' • ... v • .•" •t.• ■ . r . V—«oon cause inaudible echoes to remain in the i secret recesses of our soul.. They will 'i grow I in resonance and in meaning to us. They : will make abiding home within us by the f •• . w ; sweet force of goodwill and hospitable hearing. :-V‘ > ' 1 And you; Blessed Mother, who was to be j the “Cause of > our joy, and in . this great ,'| Treaty between Heaven and earth you to ' whom God’s ambassador ’ was deputed as to t. the one perfect flower of the world —“Mys- | tical Rose”— drew the Saviour downplease hear our united salutation; and remember us, too, as, we say: . ‘,'i Blessed art Thou , and blessed is the fruit of \ thy womb, Jesus. —Albert Reynaud. in the Missionary. i