Angelus

ANGELUS

BASIC R.C. BELIEF A devotion to which people are called by the church bell at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. It commemorates the Incarnation, and consists of three versicles (short sentences and responses), three Hail Marys and a special prayer.

St. Thomas Aquinas says that in sending His Son into the world, God wanted to contract a certain spiritual marriage between Him and human nature. Therefore, He sent the angel to ask Mary’s consent, in the place of the whole human race. This is brought out in the Angelus.

CHRISTIAN COMMENT This is the kind of prayer condemned by Jesus in Matthew 6:7.