Lady Day
Happy Lady Day!
Today is the feast day of the Annunciation — and a huge feast day it is! It celebrates Mary’s YES to God and Christ’s conception — thus, it is celebrated exactly nine months before Christmas.
Traditionally, this used to be one of the most celebrated feast days in Christendom. After all, it appears in the middle of Lent. Whereas St. Joseph’s feast day was typically celebrated with even more fasting, abstinence, and penance, this was the day where everyone would party before the Lenten penances resumed.
In fact! One of the neat traditions about this feast day is that it is celebrated with waffles. Apparently, the Swedish word for this feast day,
Vårfrudagen, is very similar to the Swedish word, Våffeldagen, which means Waffle Day. And so! It is celebrated with waffles.
Well! With a history like that, my family had to celebrate with waffles! Here are some pictures to document the festivities…
…yes, it was chaos. But delicious chaos!
Alas! In our world, in which our calendar no longer revolves around the Church calendar, this beautiful feast day has faded in obscurity.
And yet… what a beautiful feast day it is! Especially in our world, which struggles to acknowledge the beautiful moment in which our children are conceived and come into existence.
And so! For today, to celebrate this happy day, I would like to pray the Angelus with you, with each prayer illustrated with beautiful religious art.
What is the Angelus? It is a prayer which joyously recounts the Angelic encounter between the Archangel Gabriel and our Blessed Mother, and begs God for that grace. Traditionally, it is prayed at 6 am, noon, and 6 pm. In fact, the church bells used to chime at this hour and then families would sometimes stop everything and pray the Angelus together — as this artwork depicts!
And so, without no further delay… the Angelus prayer!
The Angelus
The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
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.
Amen.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
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.
Amen.
And the Word was made Flesh:
And dwelt among us.
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.
Amen.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, 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 the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
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If you like praying with religious art guiding you along, you might like my books, which lead you through each prayer of the Rosary, with each prayer beautifully illustrated. Check them out!
