| Each
day, at 12 noon, a bell rings out over the parish of St. Joseph's. Have
you ever heard it? It is called the Angelus bell. Many, many years ago,
before everyone had clocks, they didn't know when to stop work to eat
their lunch, so the bell would tell them . Do you think they ate:
a) fish fingers,
b)curry and chips,
c)a ploughman's lunch,
d)something else?
They would also say the prayers we can say today when we hear the Angelus
bell:
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived by the Holy
Spirit.
Hail Mary...
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
be it done unto me according to your word".
Hail Mary...
Pray for us, Holy Mother of God;
make us worthy of the promises of Christ. |
Have
you ever wondered who rings the bell? A lady called Mary rings it nearly
every single day at mid-day. For a long time, the bell was broken, but
Mary so longed for it to sound over the parish again that one day, she
had it fixed. Do you think she did this:
a) because
she used to belong to a famous orchestra, and missed making music;
b)because she wanted a special way of remembering a very dear Auntie;
c) because she wanted to make sure her husband came home in time for
his dinner;
d) some other reason?
|
Anyway,
one particular day, a cold, wet Tuesday in January, Mary went to ring
the bell as usual, as the time drew near to 12 o'clock. Mary climbed
the stairs, just inside the main doors of St. Joseph's church, until
she reached the landing where a small door opens into the tall, white
bell-tower that you see from the outside. Mary opened the door and bent
low to see the dangling bell-rope. She carefully wrapped the rope round
one hand, gripped it with the other and tugged.....
....."chug"....sounded the rope...
Mary was amazed......
she tried again....
...."chug" went the rope, a sickening, dull "chug",
no ring, no satisfying spring as the rope bounced upwards again...only
a painful jolt to Mary's hand.
Mary felt upset, as she could not understand why the beautiful clear
note of the bell had gone, and she knew there were people in the parish
who would miss it. You may be ill in bed and feeling very lonely, but
the bell reminded you of all the people at the church and cheered you
up; you might be doing some horrible, boring task such as cleaning the
oven, but the bell reminded you to think beautiful thoughts.
She hurried through the church to tell the workers in the shop. Barbara,
a very clever person there, had the bright idea of asking Graham to
take a look...he was changing the old stables, which belonged to the
church, into a wonderful new building where people could share things.
He worked so fast you could hardly see his arms moving. He could do
almost anything...
Almost... but not quite. For Graham, putting down the hammer, saw, screw-driver
and paintbrush, which he was using all at the same time, rushed to help...but
Graham, too, could not get the rope to pull and the bell to ring. No,
because, when he felt around inside the dark tower, he found an old
light switch, which turned on a dim light....and THEN he could see what
the problem was...
the rope was pushed against the side of the bell-tower, jammed near
the metal ladder which leads up to the very top, by a mysterious dark
shape; some kind of a large, uneven, lumpy parcel. Whatever could it
be?
What is it, and what happens next? Please add in your ideas
or draw the pictures. |
