Regina Chelly

Baroncelli Polyptych (detail), Giotto

Continuing on the theme of being the last Catholic to discover all sorts of neat Catholic things: did you know that a prayer called the Regina Coeli is sung or recited in place of the Angelus during the Easter season, from Holy Saturday through Pentecost Sunday?

Regina Coeli
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom thou didst merit to bear in your womb, alleluia.
Has risen, as He promised, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray.
O God, who through the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
gave rejoicing to the world,
grant, we pray, that through his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joy of everlasting life.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

My three-year old and I tried it out a few days ago after lunch. I told him to say the “Alleluia!” part whenever I pointed to him. He couldn’t keep a straight face, which meant neither could I. We persevered through our giggles, got to the end, and managed to say the Regina Coeli for the First. Time. Ever. It was such great fun that he thought the moment warranted a high five. I thought so, too.

My mess is starting to talk to me

One doesn’t have to be particularly religious to have religious items randomly strewn all over one’s house – just messy. And we’re pretty messy. Although the mess isn’t particularly religious in nature (most of it is quite secular), some of it is beginning to loudly suggest that maybe I should try to say the Rosary. Today.

The loudest item is a pale blue pamphlet entitled “Pray the Rosary Daily”. It doesn’t get more direct than that. And when I see it, I usually haven’t said a Rosary… yet. I suspect that it floats around our house because it has these tiny, fascinating pictures depicting the Mysteries. It may have to do with the fact that six out of six of us have trouble putting things away. It may also be those Guardian Angels in cahoots with Our Lady. In any case, however it finds its way in the middle of the playroom floor, there it is. And it says Pray the Rosary Daily.

The second loudest items are actual Rosaries. One might think that these things should be the loudest item, but they don’t explicitly have the words Pray the Rosary Daily printed on them*. One might also wonder what these are doing on the playroom floor and not safely in the Rosaries box. Ask the two-year old.

Sometimes just looking around and taking in Totality of Our Mess is enough to compel me to sit down at the nearest seat and sigh wearily. It is those times that I usually find that I’ve sat down beside, look at that what a suprise, a Pray the Rosary Daily pamphlet AND a Rosary. How convenient.

*We might be on to something here. Remember the scene in Alice in Wonderland where she finds a bottle of liquid that said Drink me and a piece of cake that said Eat me? Wouldn’t it be a good idea if Rosaries came with some sort of tag that says Pray the Rosary Daily? How could I ignore such an item when I find it among the rain boots?

What is an Act of Faith?

One of the questions in an Examination of Conscience was this: Do I make at least a short act of faith every day? to which I wondered, what is a short act of faith? I vaguely remember a prayer called Act of Faith from my childhood, so with the help of our trusty friends at Google, I arrived at these three, starting from the super shortest version to the traditional Act of Faith prayer:

Short Acts of Faith

My God, I believe in you.

or

O my God, I believe in Thee and in all that Thou teachest through thy Holy Church, because thy word is true. (taken from thecatechism.blogspot.com)

or

“O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that your Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths the Holy Catholic Church teaches because You have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”

And of course, there are the…

Not-so-short Acts of Faith

The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

When?
Sometimes when I wake my children up, they get out of bed and walk right by me like I’m a potted plant. Then I remind them that it’s nice to say, “Good morning, Mama.” I imagine that the Act of Faith works the same way. We wake up in the morning, and before trudging off to do the next thing, we acknowledge God’s presence. “Good morning, God. I believe in you…”