God often speaks to men's souls through music; He also speaks to us
through art. Millet's famous painting entitled "The Angelus" is an
illuminated text, upon which I am going to say a few words to you
to-night.
There are three things in this picture--a potato field, a country lad
and a country girl standing in the middle of it, and on the far
horizon the spire of a village church. That is all there is to it--no
great scenery and no picturesque people. In Roman Catholic countries
at the evening hour the church bell rings out to remind the people to
pray. Some go into the church, while those that are in the fields bow
their heads for a few moments in silent prayer.
That picture contains the three great elements which go to make up a
perfectly rounded Christian life. It is not enough to have the "root
of the matter" in us, but that we must be whole and entire, lacking
nothing. The Angelus may bring to us suggestions as to what
constitutes a complete life.