JARED DEES, in Praying the Angelus: Find joy, peace, and purpose in everyday life (Ave Maria Press, £11.99 (£10.80); 978-1-59471-673-7), reflects from personal experience as a Roman Catholic on taking up this traditional devotion, a memorial of the incarnation, which recalls the angel’s salutation, includes three Hail Marys, and ends with the Annunciation collect. He notes its recitation at fixed times on hearing a bell rung — nowadays, a mobile-phone notification may take the place of the Angelus bell — and welcomes its character as an extension into the individual Christian’s life of “the abrupt and unexpected interruption that the angel brought into the life of Mary”. Meditations are suggested, and the Regina Coeli devotion (substituted in Eastertide) is also introduced and explained. There is much here that would be helpful to Anglicans.
