The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister

 

If you’re like me you know Christmas and Easter as the two events where the church service attendance skyrocketed. Also, if you are anything like me, you’ve heard of things like Advent and Lent, but never feasts, times of penance, or any other particular day off the Christian calendar. For many those things are “much too Catholic”, somehow equated to a work done away with by Jesus, or some other excuse for flat-out ignorance. I know for me it was.

Chittister brings out the aspects of the liturgical year in such a way that a newbie like myself can stand in awe of. The book itself is an exploration in the liturgical year, essentially from her Roman Catholic perspective, yet in a generic way that any Christian tradition could agree with. She begins with an overview of the basics and then dives into every season and major day celebrated within the calendar.

Her main contention is to bring to light the spiritual ramifications and transformation brought about by living out the Christian year in step with Jesus’ life. The Christian calendar isn’t a mundane routine meant to keep us in the know regarding the dates of Christian events. Rather, it is the following of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection as it overlaps, intertwines, deepens, and transforms our lives. The annual ins and outs of the Christian calendar bring us into the mysteries of Christ’s life that have been reflected upon and embodied for hundreds and hundreds of years by thousands and thousands of people. By allowing the life of Jesus to determine the flow of our every day, we are gently molded into and by the community Jesus brings us into.

Overall, I’d recommend the book to anyone looking to connect to the historical stream found within the Church. In a world dominated by fiscal, athletic, school, and social calendars and timetables, the liturgical calendar stands strong as a reminder that we call Jesus not only Savior, but Lord, and that includes our time and seasonal rhythms. Chittister’s book would be a great introduction for anyone seeking to enter the realm of the ancient practices.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

“But not if I do not say them.”

I’ve been reading In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson as of late. It is a great little book, which by the way, you can get for $2.99 at Ollies, focusing on the daily office. If you don’t know what that is, it is basically a set prayer or set of set prayers that one prays everyday, typically at the same times everyday. Rather than use random words, the office points us to God by using biblical phrasing concentrating on God and his priorities over our own. It is an ancient practice that has been followed by many, many Christians of all stripes. Unfortunately, it has been dropped by many American evangelical denominations and individuals, adding to the lack of historicity in the American evangelical church. It connects us to the people of the past by praying together with those we have in the present for the future of those after us.

The book is great and I sincerely recommend it. I could give you many, many quotes, but I’ll give you this one I just read.

“The office is just a collection of words. But words are powerful things. Who knows what a single one of them might do to us over time?

In the beginning was the Word- and here is everything else now, including me and you and all that there is, seen and unseen, all of it alive with the life of that single word. From which has flowed grace upon grace.

Words are powerful things.

The daily office offers me rich, powerful, and profound words that can change me and shape me. Words that have been given as a gift through the ages to me and to you. Words that can grow in me and give voice to the groaning of my heart when I cannot. Words that can teach me to be attentive to and to perceive the meaning of the work of God. Words that will lead me into a deeper and deeper communion with God.

But not if I do not say them.“

I bought this book because I want to learn more about prayer. I want to because I’m learning that I need to pray. I think for too long I thought prayers had to be sporadic, personal, and off-the-cuff if they were to be “authentic”. Now I’m beginning to rethink that.

The reason I like this small section is because it tells me the truth that I have to say the words. I can’t think about praying them. I can’t talk about praying them. I have to pray them.

Prayer for the Week

“Save us while waking, and defend us while sleeping, that when we awake we may watch with Christ, and when we sleep we may rest in peace. Amen.” – Anonymous

Prayer for the week

Christ with, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left…

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me. – The Canticle of St. Patrick

You have lost yourself…

You ask what you should offer: yourself. For what else does the Lord seek of you but you? Because of all earthly creatures he has made nothing better than you, he seeks yourself from yourself, because you have lost yourself. – Augustine Sermon 48