Learning to breathe...

As I was reading today about Shrove Tuesday and Lent I came upon Maria von Trapp's explination of Carnival.

Reading this, I learned a lot about Carnival including that it was orginally a period of time and not just one day. Perhaps I will go into this more at another time but it is something else that caught my eye, the truth of which tugged at my heart. The idea of the beauty and benefit of entering into the liturgical year.

To quote Maria:

    "It is a pity that the Reformation did away not only with most of the sacraments and all of the sacramentals, but also, unfortunately, with the very breath of the Mystical Body — that wonderful, eternal rhythm of high and low tide that makes up the year of the Church*: times of waiting alternate with times of fulfillment, the lean weeks of Lent with the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, times of mourning with seasons of rejoicing. Modern man lost track of this."

And later she goes on to say:

    "It should be our noble right and duty to bring up our children in such a way that they become conscious of high tide and low tide, that they learn that there is "a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance." The rhythm of nature as it manifests itself in the four seasons, in day and night, in the individual's heartbeat and breathing — this rhythm we should learn to recognize, and to treat with more reverence. Modern man has become used to turning day into night and night into day according to his whim or pleasure. He has managed to lose contact completely with himself. He has lost the instinct for the right food and drink, stuffing himself with huge quantities of the wrong things and feeding himself sick. But worst of all, and this sounds almost ridiculous, in the process of growing up he forgot the right kind of breathing. Only babies nowadays know how to breathe. Every voice teacher can prove this sad truth...Again, it is our faithful friend, Holy Mother Church, who leads her children first back to nature in order to make them ready to receive supernatural grace. "Gratia supponit naturam.""

And so I am strengthened - and challenged - to enter more fully into the liturgical seasons and feasts of the Church; seeing there great beauty and a well-spring of graces to aid me in my quest to come to know and love my God better.

Today I will celebrate with joy and appreciation all God has given and shared and tomorrow I will enter into the penitential season of Lent with a heart more ready and willing to be changed.






*Bolded by me for emphasis