The Christian era of history started at the moment of the conception of Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells how the angel visited the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce to her what was happening (the Annunciation).

Gospel of Saint Luke, chapter 1:

“And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.”

That greeting of the angel has been used  ever since — and  is still used all the time, by Christians, as a prayer, the wording of which is usually as follows:

“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”

Many today still recite the prayer in Latin, as has been done traditionally for 21 centuries.

“Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.”

The Latin “Hail Mary” has been set to music by many of the world’s greatest composers — some of the most beautiful words in the world, set to some of the most beautiful music in the world.

Listen to this. Follow the words in Latin as you listen.

Make the words your own prayer to Our Lord’s mother.

Beautiful words. Beautiful music. Beautiful icons. It all makes God seem very real.

It makes you want to be a better person.

If you pray this prayer sincerely, you will become a better person.

The change will be unmistakeable.

When the disciples of Jesus asked him, “Teach us how to pray,” these are the words he gave them.

Listen to them:

“Our Father, who art in Heaven,

hallowed by Thy name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.”

Here (in my opinion) is something beautiful.

Without a confident knowledge of any language except English, one cannot follow the words.

But I am assured that they are the Beatitudes – words of Jesus Christ as found in Saint Matthew’s gospel (chapter 5).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’s sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The music is beautiful – as also are the words.

As is very appropriate, considering that they are the words of God himself.

Remember this one?

Musically OK—as always.  Classical SQ. Lyrics-wise, well worth a second glance.

Pure Saint John of the Cross.

It goes like this:

I felt in need of some loving
So I sat down on a wall
I tried to find a reason for living
But I couldn’t find a reason at all
So I owned up to my maker
And I started to say a prayer
I waited for an answer
But there wasn’t anybody there

I thought there should have been someone
But I wasn’t quite sure who
It finished me to find there was no-one
That I could take my troubles to
So I knelt down by my bedside
And I started to say a prayer
It was when I asked for nothing
I could feel that there was somebody there

I’m looking still, but it’s easy
‘cos I know which way to go
It doesn’t matter how long it takes me
‘cos there’s someone there to help me who knows
All the things that I am after
All the loving that I want to share
It’s so hard but I don’t mind
‘cos there really is somebody there

Saint John of the Cross said:

“To reach satisfaction in everything, desire to find it in nothing . . . to come to possess everything, desire the possession of nothing . . . in this nakedness the spirit finds its rest. For when it craves nothing, nothing weighs it down, because it is in the centre of its humility.”

It’s true.

Keep asking God, “Give me this. Give me that. Make my life a continuous barrel of fun. Yake away all my problems.” Nobody home.

It wasn’t God you were looking for, it was Father Christmas.

To address God, say, “God I want nothing. Nothing but you.”

That prayer will be answered. You will find him.

You will never be the same again.

What do you think of this?

Interesting, eh?

There’s something good about it — bold, audacious. Yes there’s something there to think about.

Not everybody could get away with this as well as BF, EJ, AM etc.

But hardly deep enough to support you in keeping the faith in a world as hostile to God as the one we inhabit today.

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More traditional and musically in a different and higher class is this:

Still inspiring 268 years after being written’

Whenever this one is performed, everybody present feels it appropriate to stand up out of respect.

Yes, but it is very noisy, is it not?

Ideal, perhaps for public expressions of confident faith — but how useful in times when faith reaches breaking point through tragedy, despair and failure?

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This next one takes us a long way towards contemplating and experiencing something of the infinity of God.

Yes, this one, more ancient, is more “supernatural” in its feel.

Some would say that it can take one as far towards experiencing God’s presence as we are willing to go. Do you agree?

Any faults? Perhaps the very beauty of this composition is, itself, a distraction.

Hard not to think of the genius who wrote it and the brilliance of the vocals required to sing it — which could take one’s mind off God himself.

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This next is different again. Simpler.

Those who give their life fully to God, day in day out, by joining special communities — like entering a monastery — use the simplest, most ancient, of all musical forms — plainchant.

No distraction. Nothing to think about except God himself.

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God does not call everybody to enter religious life as in leaving the outside world altogether.

Yet for everybody, the most important aid to meeting with God is available.

Yes to everybody.

That greatest of all aids to contemplation is SILENCE.

Blessed Mary MacKillop, like all saints, loved to spend time in silence with God — silently contemplating him.

Yes, she was a woman of action, but she believed such activity was a “less agreeable duty” which must not interfere with her primary interest, the contemplation of God.

In the early days, her younger sisters (Lexie and Annie) would mock Mary for the long times she spent in prayer and contemplation. Yet later, both became, themselves, women of prayer.

When Mother Mary was too preoccupied to stop her worldly duties, she tried to make all her life, even her busiest times, a prayer.

She wrote to Father Woods, “God’s presence seems to follow me everywhere and make everything I do or wish to do a prayer . . . . I love at night to sleep where I can see the lamp burning and the Tabernacle behind it.”

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The silence that matters is inner silence.

Even if the world refuses to be quiet around you, you can still quieten the frettings about the future and the broodings about the past, which are the real enemies of spiritual silence.

Once they are put aside, even a busy life can be an on-going act of contemplation of the Lord.