Friday, February 28, 2014

It's About Time (2)


For he saith: In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2)
Now, indeed. From last week's rather fretful personal reflections on Time, let us consider Liturgical Time (or, rather, Lent specifically). Of course, Lent  begins this Wednesday, a season of penance and of preparation for Easter.
In prayer and recollection, take time now to prepare to prepare[1] for the Easter Triduum.
How will you make a good Lent?
Here are some timely resources to help you get started:
Andrea Mantegna c. 1460, Agony in the Garden
What will you be reading?
“In quibus diebus quadragesimae accipiant omnes singulos codices de bibliotheca, quos per ordinemex integro legant; qui codices in caput quadragesimae dandi sunt.” – Chapter 48 of the Rule of St. Benedict[2]
Which one book will you read from beginning to end this Lent? Please share suggestions in the comments. For instance,
[My next post will highlight some Lenten prayers and devotions. Suggestions are welcome.]
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[1] Yes, I happen to have a penchant for meta-preparation, project planning, list-making, contingency planning, and another round of list-making. It may be that this contradicts compliments the SGD core principle of Catholic Spontaneity. This will presumably be the subject of future posts—after we've decided what we really mean by that principle, how we will marshal quotes from saints and other Catholic authors on this topic, and how we might spontaneously (or otherwise?) apply these to our lives. Who knows, I might even mention Aquinas on prudence, if only because I haven't mentioned Aquinas here yet.
[2] The “Father of Western Monasticism” knows a thing or two about keeping Lent. I’ll quote another sentence of his next week. Maybe even with an English translation instead of yet another link.
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3 comments:

  1. MattMarch 5, 2014 at 9:32 PM

    Thanks for the Lent suggestions. For my Lenten reading, I'm working on The Fulfillment of All Desire by Ralph Martin. If I finish that, I have a couple classic works of spirituality saved up on my Kindle (e.g. The Way of Perfection by Teresa of Ávila). One of the Capuchin novices mentioned that he will be reading Balthasar's Mysterium Paschale, which I thought was an interesting choice.

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  2. TMRMarch 8, 2014 at 8:36 PM

    Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping others will post their reading over the course of the season, so we can learn from each other (and add even more to those ever-lengthening Lists of Books To Read).
    More on that later--also on Kindle. My Kindle has been idle for nearly a year; I'd already resolved to either get in the habit of using it well or to pass it along before Easter. (So far, I only do spiritual reading on dead tree fibers, and only at home at the very beginning and/or very end of the day--i.e., when I'm most tired. Certainly room for improvement there.)
    Who is the patron saint of Kindles/e-readers? [or perhaps it is the Holy Spirit Himself: "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and Kindle in them the fire of your love"]

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  3. MattMarch 9, 2014 at 8:56 PM

    St. Augustine is the patron of sore eyes. Perhaps he could also patronize e-readers.

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