I have finally finished the book The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life – The Ancient Practices Series
Joan covers various topics that are second nature to Catholic’s such as components of the liturgical year, why it is important to your spiritual life and the significance of Sundays. Then she goes through the whole of the liturgical year (Advent, Christmastide, Ordinary Time, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Paschaltide, Ordinary Time) and explains different aspects of their importance in our spiritual lives. She also includes a little information on the saints and Marian feasts.
Like I mentioned earlier, I had a hard time getting into this book. When I read the description, I thought I would get more out of it. I thought it would be more of a how-to book or at least have some concrete things to note or meditate on during the year. It felt very new-age to me. It’s really more of an airy “if you don’t follow the liturgical year, this is where it MIGHT take you, should you want to try it.” I suppose it might be useful to a Christian whose church doesn’t really have the foundation that Catholic’s (and a handful of other Protestants) do as far as set readings and other things. It might help them gain a little understanding of how we worship and function, but if that was her aim, I think she fell short.
That’s not to say that I got NOTHING out of this book. She did discuss how the dates for Christmas & Easter were selected, which was an interesting lesson in calendars and priorities of the early Christians. It was especially interesting to see how Easter was chosen as it relates to the Jewish feast of Pentacost. Overall, though, I would have to say that I can’t think of anyone I would recommend this book TO since I can’t quite pinpoint what her overall message or goal was.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the 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 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
[…] reading The Liturgical Year(see my review), I was a bit skeptical about it’s usefulness but had to give it a try. It was a fairly […]
[…] The Liturgical Year See my review! […]