{"id":4629,"date":"2019-02-08T10:59:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T10:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.florisbooks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4629"},"modified":"2019-02-08T11:15:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T11:15:12","slug":"the-holy-year-meditative-contemplations-of-seasons-and-festivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.florisbooks.co.uk\/blog\/2019\/02\/08\/the-holy-year-meditative-contemplations-of-seasons-and-festivals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Year: Meditative Contemplations of Seasons and Festivals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n

In our hurried, everyday lives, time of day and even seasons can blur together, leaving us distanced from the natural world and spiritual rhythms. The Holy Year<\/a> is a visionary and practical exploration of thoughts and meditations which can help us engage with the changing moods of the year. Rittelmeyer’s descriptive sketches of the Christian festivals and subjects from the New Testament are offered as helpful spiritual signposts along the path of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\n\n
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The washing of the feet<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a solemn festival begins, all\nthe bells are set ringing. Thus a festive peal is rung in John\u2019s Gospel (Ch 13)\nbefore the Washing of the Feet is performed, the deed with which Christ\nintroduced the sublime Eucharist. Let us listen to the heavenly peals that seem\nto call the angels to the celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just before the Passover\nFestival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go\nto the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the\nend. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted\nJudas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father\nhad put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was\nreturning to God; so he got up from the meal \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ rises from the great\nearthly meal of mankind. Not for enjoyment did he come, but to bring the sacred\nrevelation of serving. He laid aside everything, except the one garment which\nhe needed with which to serve. Do we see the transparency of the account? He\ndoes not speak, he acts. We behold as he completely adapts himself to human arrangements when\nhe now does one thing, then the next, as servants do. So he fulfils deed for\ndeed the meaner service like a sacrament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Voices\nare raised in the group of disciples, who wanted to see Christ differently. The\nwhole world should be laid at the feet of Messiah \u2013 and now he goes and washes\nthe feet of the others! Peoples should be subject to him \u2013 and now he bows down\nand fulfils the meanest service. The disciples had all wanted to fight for him\n\u2013 and now they sit and accept simple help. \u2018You shall never wash my feet.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nChrist restrains, \u2018You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will\nunderstand.\u2019 Golden tones from yet greater heights are blended in the chiming\nbells. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Do\nyou understand what I have done for you?\u2019 he asked them. \u2018You call me \u201cTeacher\u201d\nand \u201cLord,\u201d and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and\nTeacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another\u2019s feet. I have\nset you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell\nyou, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the\none who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do\nthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then after the betrayer has gone out \u2013 not only of\nthe room but out of the picture of humanity: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Son of Man is glorified\nand God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the\nSon in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you\nonly a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I\ntell you now: Where I am going, you cannot\ncome. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you\nmust love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if\nyou love one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us feel with the deepest powers of our soul what love <\/em>this picture\ncontains. It does not please itself as a feeling but a conscious \u2018I\u2019 is\ncarrying free deeds down from peaceful heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Judas is\nthere, too. But he cannot cloud the shining revelation in any way. We forget\nthat he is there. \u2018Love your enemies\u2019 (Mt 5:44) is shown just in this, that it\ndoes not notice him or react to him, but in word and deed includes him. Only finally\nafter word and deed does a warning bell sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sacred\nfragrance is shed abroad from this love and fills the whole house where they\nsat. Whoever breathes this fragrance is in heaven; he is embraced with the\nlife-giving air of a higher world. He feels breathless and his heart weighs\nheavy when he is obliged to live again on the earth, but yet in truth this need\nnot be when he breathes this sacred air from within and lets it stream out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see\nChrist walking around and celebrating this love as a Eucharist. In deep festal\nmood and yet in modest simplicity he raises up the simplest earthly deeds to\ndivine worship and fills the simple earthly deed with all heaven\u2019s glory.\nHighest holiness streams into lowly daily work, into the toil of the despised\nslave. Earthly walls fade away and over the meanest earthly deed stands a\nluminous temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is only\nfrom the soul that heaven can so burst open over the earth. The moment we drink\nthe spirit of this love, heaven begins to shine around us for our fellow human\nbeings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we behold the \u2018I\u2019 that is\nactive here? Like sunlight it sets itself no bounds and yet rests securely\nwithin itself. It does not assert itself and yet is mighty in consent. It does\nnot force its presence and yet it reveals itself triumphantly. The inspiring\ngoodness of a human \u2018I\u2019 that is simultaneously\nSon of man and Son of God, strives to flow in our blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Through this \u2018I\u2019 we can see God. <\/em>Without a\nshadow of condescension this sacred kingly gesture reaches down from above and\nlifts us to itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history\nof Christianity has sometimes shown an enthusiasm for humility. One can\nunderstand such a feeling. But that kind of human experience is quite unaware\nof the high dignity that is now lent to man. We feel that Christ himself\npurifies us when we give ourselves up to this heavenly stream. \u2018You are now\nclean!\u2019 Here is love. Here is God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our hurried, everyday lives, time of day and even seasons can blur together, leaving us distanced from the natural world and spiritual rhythms. The Holy Year is a visionary and practical exploration of thoughts and meditations which can help us engage with the changing moods of the year. Rittelmeyer’s descriptive sketches of the Christian festivals and subjects from the New Testament are offered as helpful spiritual signposts along the path of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[986,658,23,987,983,988,985,984,453,913],"class_list":["post-4629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","tag-christian-life","tag-christianity","tag-friedrich-rittelmeyer","tag-meditations","tag-meditative-contemplations-of-seasons-and-festivals","tag-passiontide","tag-seasons","tag-the-holy-year","tag-theology","tag-worship","odd"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Holy Year: Meditative Contemplations of Seasons and Festivals - Floris Books Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.florisbooks.co.uk\/blog\/2019\/02\/08\/the-holy-year-meditative-contemplations-of-seasons-and-festivals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Holy Year: Meditative Contemplations of Seasons and Festivals - Floris Books Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In our hurried, everyday lives, time of day and even seasons can blur together, leaving us distanced from the natural world and spiritual rhythms. 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