All over my native Austria the chorus of Angelus bells rings from every church steeple, at dawn, at high noon, and again before dark in the evening. At school one day-- I was a first-grader then-- I happened to stand by an open window on the top floor looking down on "the campus," you might call it, for ours was a big, beautiful school built by the Christian brothers. It was noon. Classes had just finished and everywhere children and teachers came streaming out onto the courts and walkways. From so high up, the sight reminded me of an antihill on a hot summer day. Just then, the Angelus bell rang out from the church and at once all those busy feet down there stood still "The angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary..." We had been taught to recite this prayer in silence. Then, the ringing slowed down; one last stroke of a bell and the anthill was swarming again.
Now, so many years later, I still keep that moment of silence at noon. Bells or no bells, I pray the Angelus. I let the silence drop like a pebble right into the middle of my day and send its ripples out over its surface in everwidening circles. That is the Angelus for me; the Now of eternity rippling through time.
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
