Living Leisurely

Living Leisurely through the Liturgical Year

We chose this as our theme for the 2020 - 21 Faith Formation year for several reasons.  First, the past six months of our lives have been upended, and the beginning of this school year is stressful and uncertain.  

Second, there is a real need for cycles and rhythms in our lives.  As Catholics, we know this in a unique way as the liturgical calendar circles and cycles again and again, hopefully deepening in our lives each year.  

Third, the feast of St. Hildegard of Bingen is September 17, and Hildegard was a member of the Benedictines.  St. Benedict first wrote his Rule of St. Benedict in 516 A.D.  It was meant to be a guide for religious communities to live together as families.  Central to Benedictine spirituality is a sense that time belongs to God and we are called to sanctify our time--not spend it--by being mindful of God through the days, weeks, months and years.  

Fourth, as one Benedictine website writes, "Leisure is making space in our lives to tune into the gifts, the needs, the aspects of who we are, in order to be enriched by the very gifts God has given us."

Finally, rather than try to force a "normal" year of Faith Formation, we want it to be an integrated, "leisurely" time of work, prayer, play, study and rest.  We will talk more about this as we go through the year; however, we now invite you to enter into a time of "Living Leisurely through the Liturgical Year" as we learn more about our faith and deepen our experience of God in every moment.