Liturgical Feasts And Seasons

"A Book of Feasts and Seasons" recaptures the lost traditions surrounding major feasts and festivals--every occasion of the Christian Year.

This critical edition makes available for the first time Thomas Merton’s novitiate conferences on liturgy. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton’s commentaries remain pertinent for their insights on his own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life, on his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks, and on the perennial meaning of the key events of the liturgical year. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton’s lifelong writing on liturgy. As Merton’s former student Br. Paul Quenon writes in his foreword: “Nowhere in all of Merton’s writings can one find such an extended demonstration of the hermeneutical approach he took in commenting on Scripture. This was focused intensely on finding the meaning Scripture had for our life in God . . . These notes . . . take us into one man’s lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.”

In this third volume of papers from Thomas Merton’s conferences during his decade (1955-1965) as novice master at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani, his insight into the liturgical pattern of the Christian year and beyond is presented in fresh detail. Merton’s own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life is clear, and nowhere more so than in his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton's commentaries remain pertinent. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton's lifelong writing on liturgy. Moreover, as his former student Br. Paul Quenon notes in his foreword, this context is one deeply rooted in Merton’s understanding of Scripture. ‘These notes . . . take us into one man's lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.’

Liturgical Feasts and Seasons, in this third volume of paper, from Thomas Merton's conferences during his decade (1955-1965) as novice master at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani, his insight into the liturgical pattern of the Christian year and beyond is presented in fresh detail. Merton's own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life is clear, and nowhere more so than in his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton's commentaries remain pertinent. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton's lifelong writing on liturgy. Moreover, as his former student Br. Paul Quenon notes in his foreword, this context is one deeply rooted in Merton's understanding of Scripture. 'These notes ... take us into one man's lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.' In the Liturgical Feasts and Seasons: Novitiate Conferences on Scripture and Liturgy 3, Patrick F. O'Connell deeply rooted in Merton's understanding of Scripture.

This book provides an introduction to and history of the liturgical year, followed by a discussion of each of the major cycles. Each chapter includes questions for personal reflection or group discussion.

This work, originally inspired by the liturgical renewal brought on by Vatican II, contains Thomas Merton's meditations on the seasons of the liturgical year. He examines the words, songs, ceremonies, signs, and movements that are designed to open our hearts and minds.

The liturgical year is a relatively modern invention. The term itself only came into use in the late sixteenth century. In antiquity, Christians did not view the various festivals and fasts that they experienced as a unified whole. Instead, the different seasons formed a number of completely unrelated cycles and tended to overlap and conflict with one another. Drawing upon the latest research, the authors track the development of the Churchs feasts, fasts, and seasons, including the sabbath and Sunday, Holy Week and Easter, Christmas and Epiphany, and the feasts of the Virgin Mary, the martyrs, and other saints.