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If you've heard the church bells ringing at 6 am, and not at 7, you may wonder why the wake-up call. For over a thousand years, the practice of praying the Angelus has graced the Church. Similar to the way that the Rosary imitated the piety of monks and friers reciting the psalms, the Angelus imitated the pious recitation of the Divine Office. The faithful at work in the fields would drop to their knees at the sound of the bells calling the monks to Lauds, Mittans and Vespers. While the Priests and Brothers prayed the office, the faithful would recite the Angelus. The prayer was short, to accommodate itself to dropping whatever one was doing.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amoung 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.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Yes, that last prayer is the kind that an English teacher would ask us to diagram on the board, so let's unravel it...

Lord, fill our hearts with your Grace: once, through the message of an angel, You revealed to us the incarnation of Your Son. Now, through His suffering and death, lead us to the glory of His resurrection. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.