In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Let us begin our prayer today by picturing again that most famous scene of Mary

praying in her room, in Nazareth, and suddenly receiving this extraordinary visit from that celestial being,

an angel of God, who tells her that she will indeed be the mother of God.

It's been represented so many times and we can easily conjure it up.

And as you know, she is troubled,

but he calms her and tells her that she will bear a son that she will name Jesus. And something characteristic about him is that he will reign. Indeed, he will be a king, and he will have royal authority.

He says he will reign over Jacob's descendants. He will indeed have a royal throne.

Now, the church has traditionally sung this in a hymn in Latin, the hymn that the angel really gave the words for,

when she says,

David Ili dominus deus sedum David, patri eels, and reignabit in domo Jacob in eternal.

And rene ye yeus, non erit finis, hallelujah.

I'm sure you understood that Latin.

It's a beautiful hymn, often sung over and over by monks in the monasteries.

And they were not the script writers. They didn't write the script.

They just wrote the music to go with it.

Because we know it was an angel himself who came down, came up with those words that many have sung and prayed.

In English, the Lord God will give him, speaking about Jesus, will give him the throne of his father, David.

And he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever

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