The Angel of the LORD declared unto Mary And she conceived of the Holy Spirit |
| Solemnity of the Annunciation of the LordMarch 25, 2026Tomorrow we celebrate the great and wonderful feast of the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus Christ. While it is natural for us to think of Christmas as the feast of the Incarnation (when God became man), it is actually tomorrow’s feast, 9 months prior, in which the infinite, all-powerful God entered His creation in the womb of Mary. God created the heavens and the earth with His Fiat—Let there be light. God entered into His creation with Mary’s Fiat—Let it be done unto me. |
| Smelling Like The Sheep |
 | The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. We sang these words of Psalm 23 just a few weeks ago, praising our Good Shepherd. With Mary’s Fiat, the Good Shepherd became a sheep. The Creator became a creature. The all-powerful and almighty God chose to become a weak and helpless child in the womb of His mother. This feast is not simply a day in which we remember Gabriel’s greeting or the miraculous message delivered to Mary. Tomorrow we celebrate the humble love of God, the truly Good Shepherd who became one of the sheep to save us all. As the early Christians said, “The Son of God became a son of man, so that sons of men might become sons of God.” |
| The Angelus A beautiful way to reflect on this magnificent feast and to begin to plumb the depths of its mystery is to pray the Angelus. —What is the Angelus?The Angelus (Latin for “Angel”) is a short devotional prayer with roots dating back nearly 1,000 years. Typically prayed three times a day (6 am, noon, 6 pm), the Angelus can help us sanctify our entire day, pausing at these set times to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation and God’s love for us.—How to pray the Angelus This devotional is generally prayed in a call-and-response format, making it perfect for families! The leader prays the versicle (V)—which is just a fancy word The Angel of the LORD declared unto Mary short verse—and everyone else prays the response (R). There are four sets of these verses, three of them followed by a Hail Mary, and the final one followed by the concluding prayer. You can pray the Angelus below, then keep reading for our special prayer challenge! |
| The Angelus |
| V/. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, R/. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary… V/. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, R/. Be it done unto me according to your Word. Hail Mary… V/. And the Word was made flesh, R/. And dwelt among us. Hail Mary… V/. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. |  |
| Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts: that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your 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. Excerpted from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers, revised edition © 2007 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. All rights reserved. |
| A Prayer Challenge Prayer is powerful. As one author put it, “if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers to God make…we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.” Let’s make a difference! We have over 150,000 people reading this email right now, and we have a prayer challenge for all of you.Commit to praying the Angelus tomorrow, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Set your alarm (6 am, noon, 6 pm). When that alarm goes off, fight the urge to snooze it. Stop what you are doing and pray. Reflect on the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation. With each Hail Mary, allow our Blessed Mother to draw you into her love for her Son and our Lord. Then, think of one person who needs to know the Good Shepherd, and pray for them. To make it easy, we’ve created a prayer card that you can download and print out. Simply click the button below, and set your alarm!The Angelus Prayer Card Just think…150,000 people praying the Hail Mary nine times tomorrow (three times with each Angelus)….that is over 1.3 million Hail Marys being said on this wonderful solemnity. Wow! We can’t wait to see what the Good Shepherd does with all those prayers.If you commit to the challenge, let us know by clicking the button below and sharing your prayer requests. The Flocknote Team will be praying for you and your intentions as well! Commit to the challenge: Share your prayer requests We look forward to praying with you and for you! In Christ, The Flocknote Team |
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