A while ago, I signed up for a program through which I receive free books in exchange for a fair review. As of yet, I haven’t really enjoyed any of the books that I’ve reviewed. Until now. The Liturgical Yearis another installment in The Ancient Practices series overseen by emergent-ecumenical-ancient-modern-guru Phyllis Tickle. The author, Sister Joan Chittister, does a great job as a Catholic in introducing an ignorant Protestant like me to the almost 2,000 years of church year tradition. Having been raised in more non-denominational & charismatic circles, our focus is always on “the new” or “the fresh thing.” While there is nothing inherently wrong with that focus, I can’t help but feel like we’ve lost a bit of our roots.
We do not develop a liturgical life to look good to other people. We do not develop a liturgical spirituality to affect a kind of spiritual dimension to our lives. And we certainly do not go to Mass regularly to avoid hell. We live a liturgical life to learn to think like He thinks. To do what He would do. To mak Him the center of our lives – not our work or our money or our status…Liturgical spirituality is about learning to live an ordinary life extraordinarily well.
