“An Drochshaol” was the name of the period during the great potato famine that struck Ireland in the late 1840’s. Translated in English it simply means hard times. And hard times it was as the famine took the lives of close to one million Irish during a roughly five-year period. Ten years after the famine, French artist Jean-François Millet painted this painting, “L’Angelus.” The painting soon became a popular work of art hanging on the walls of many homes throughout Europe. Translated to English “The Angelus” is a prayer recited three times a day in some Catholic communities. In mid-19th century Europe, church bells would ring across the countryside as a way of calling devotees to pause wherever they were and to cease whatever they were doing. Millet’s painting depicts a man and a woman, presumably a married couple, pausing at the end of the day to give thanks. Their pausing is a recognition of their dependency on God and serves as a way of acknowledging him as their provider. This painting has been a powerful reminder to me in a couple of ways during this global pandemic we are currently facing.
The first is simply recognizing the importance that work plays in our lives. In this difficult time, I know many people who have lost their jobs. This job loss is obviously leading to other stressors in life; how to pay bills and buy groceries among them. There is also the loss of interaction with others that comes with our work and serves our mental health in ways we may have never really appreciated before. For those who still have work and can do so from home there is the gratefulness, that although your work is different than it was before the virus, it is still work.
This painting has also reminded me of my need to have a rhythm where I pause at some point in my day to reflect and give thanks to God. This daily pause is all the more important as our daily lives have been turned upside down and we all have had to learn to live in this new normal. Whether you have little, such as the couple in the painting, or you have an abundance it is important to remember God as our sustainer. “The Angelus” prayer ends with,
Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord,
Your Grace into our hearts;
that as we have known the incarnation of Christ,
your Son by the message of an angel,
so by His passion and cross
we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.
Through the same Christ, our Lord.
Amen