In the wake of some shocking statistics recently released by the CDC that more Americans die by suicide than in automobile accidents, and also of two very high profile celebrity suicides, and with the knowledge that people in my immediate sphere of friends are affected by this darkness, I’ve been contemplating the nature of this evil that affects–of all the animals on this planet–only humans. This darkness clouds the mind from the truths about ourselves, the world, and life in God that are otherwise perceived in the light of reality. But I believe that The Angelus, a devotion long used in the West to mark morning, noon, and evening, can be a powerful reminder of reality and a destroyer of this particular shadow.
The devotion (hearkening to Luke 1) is a set of four versicles and responses, used with the Ave Maria prayer, and concluded with a final Collect. The lessons implicit in these simple lines refute the lies of the darkness of suicide:
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, *
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.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. AmenBehold the handmaid of the Lord. *
Be it done unto me according to thy word.Hail Mary. . .
And the Word was made flesh, *
And dwelt among us.Hail Mary. . .
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, *
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of 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 Jesus Christ , our Lord. Amen.
The Angel of the Lord declared — This declaring, or announcing, means God is active, working, not far away or disinterested in us. He’s involved and so is all of heaven, which is why an angel was sent to Mary. He “declares” to show that he has a plan, and that ultimately, he is in control.
She conceived by the Holy Ghost — God can work real miracles in us. Mary bore God in her womb, but we can bear him in our hearts. He doesn’t think we’re too dirty or broken to live in.
Hail Mary — this high, dignified greeting comes from an angel to a human being! The worth of a single human life is inestimable, and worthy of the entire Incarnation of God (the shepherd goes in search of a single lost sheep).
The Lord is with thee — God is with you. Always.
Blessed art thou. . . .and the fruit of thy womb — Mary stands out because of the special role she plays in God’s plan. But each person likewise has a unique part in this plan–a part nobody else could fill–and thus is also blessed and special. The fruit of Mary’s womb is blessed; the ultimate fruit of your life is yet to be complete, and is still being made.
Pray for us sinners — We ask this directly of Mary because she can hear us. Those in heaven are not gone from us; heaven and earth aren’t that far apart. Her role, and the role of all the Saints, is to talk to God directly on our behalf, just like we could ask any friend to pray for us. And we need it, because we are sinners, which simply means we miss the mark of living in the best way, the way God intends for us. It’s okay to ask for help.
Now and at the hour of our death — In other words, now is not the hour of your death. That’s in the hands of God, not our hands. God will not only be with you then, but he is with you even now; you are not alone. And Mary is with you now through her prayers.
Behold the handmaid. . . .be it done unto me — Mary acknowledges herself to be a servant (handmaid) of God. She is not a god unto herself. She did not create herself, and she does not belong to herself. But the one area of absolute power that she does have is her choice. And she submits that choice to God’s perfect plan (“be it done unto me”). This exercise of her will to submit to God’s will resulted in the greatest blessing she would ever have, and the greatest blessing the world would ever have: God becoming a man to save us. The same principle works for us. Submitting our wills, ourselves, instead of trying to have control, is where real freedom and blessings come from. Because God is good.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us — Whatever pains or struggles you have, God knows about them intimately, not just by knowing everything as God, but experientially, as a human being. He knows them because he has the same flesh, the same humanity, that you do. You’re not alone.
Pray for us — This entire prayer is in the plural us, not the singular I, because even when you’re praying it by yourself, you’re not alone in the prayer. Countless others throughout time and around the world even now pray it with you. You’re connected with them, and we’re all connected with Mary and all the Saints, when we pray this. It’s God that connects us all together and to him. You’re never alone.
Pour forth. . . .his Resurrection — The final prayer turns from speaking to Mary to speaking directly to God. Mary stays with you to pray along with you here. We ask God, who is always approachable and caring and full of love, for an immediate blessing—grace in our hearts. We implicitly then thank him for the miracle of the annunciation to Mary and the resulting incarnation of his Son. And we ask that the self-sacrifice of Jesus’ actions will transform our lives so that his Resurrection will also be our resurrection. That’s not a metaphor; Resurrection means the real and actual saving of all that was lost, the bringing back to full life of what has died, and the rescue and re-creation of the whole universe. That rescuing begins in your own life, even now.
Through Jesus Christ — All of this prayer we ask the Father through his Son, who demonstrated his intense love for us in his incarnation, death, and resurrection. We call him Jesus, the name Mary gave him, and “Christ”, a title that means “anointed for a purpose” – that purpose being to save us. We also call him (and the Father, and the Holy Spirit) “Lord”, meaning that we, like Mary, make ourselves servants to him, trusting in his care and rule.
In praying this devotion regularly, we can be reminded that God cares about us, has a purpose for us, that we don’t belong to ourselves but rather to his loving care, and that we’re worth literally even the life of God (as he himself has shown us). The Angelus can help bring us out of the darkness of a moment into the warm light of reality.
