CV NEWS FEED // In light of the upcoming feast of the Annunciation on March 25, Catholic scholar Scott Hahn explained the significance of pausing at midday to pray the Angelus, the prayer that celebrates Mary’s “fiat.”
“It’s probably the boost you need at midday,” Hahn wrote in Angelus News. He referenced the story of Moses’s prayers during the Israelites’ battle against the Amelekites. When Moses, watching from a nearby hilltop, held up his hands in prayer, the Israelites gained the upper hand in the battle, but when he lowered his arms from exhaustion, the Amelekites prevailed (Exodus 17:11).
Halfway through the battle, Moses’ brother Aaron and friend Hur steadied his hands, which were falling. The Israelites won the battle.
“We who don’t have Moses’ greatness can also grow weary halfway through our daily struggles,” Hahn wrote. “That’s why we pray the Angelus.”
The prayer recounts the story of Jesus’s conception, referencing the words of Gabriel and the Blessed Mother in Luke (1:26–28 and 1:38) and John (1:14).
“Thus, at the turning point of our day, we remember the turning point of human history: the moment when an angel appeared to a young woman named Mary and told her of God’s plan to send the Messiah to the world as her child,” Hahn wrote. “All subsequent history, and all of creation, turned on her consent.”
Hahn noted the long-standing practice of noonday prayers in the Christian tradition, commemorating several biblical events. St. Peter was praying the prayers of the sixth hour (counted from sunrise) when he received the Lord’s revelations (Acts 10:9), Hahn wrote.
Jesus was crucified at the sixth hour (Luke 23:44), and like Moses, Jesus’ arms were outstretched on a hilltop, Hahn continued: on the cross, Christ prayed, persevered, and prevailed over death.
“If we are growing weak or weary at midday, or irritable with our co-workers or family, if we are discouraged because the odds are against us,” Hahn concluded, “we can look to Mary and know that we, too, can rely on the help of angels and the providence of God, who has a plan for us. Like Moses, we can renew our prayer, with supernatural help, and witness the victory of God in our hearts through the rest of the day.”
The post Scott Hahn: Why we should pray the Angelus appeared first on CatholicVote org.