Into the Wild: a blog by the Discalced Carmelites UK

For many families, the first sign of the coming festivities comes, after the advent wreath, with baking. Smells of cookies, cakes and bread pervade many homes. From spice cookies to almond crescents there is a joy that accompanies this activity. Especially in homes with small, and not so small, children using the cookie cutters is a way to include all members of the family in the process. A lot of thought goes into baking. Choosing the recipes, finding the ingredients, and baking takes time but it is a time that during Christmas many don't quite measure, it simply goes by in a way that reminds me of something an old professor commented once. He was reminiscing about his childhood Christmases and one of the things he remembered noticing was that time seemed to not exist during Christmas. Family members came and time was spent sharing, eating, playing, and singing, but this time spent wasn't measured. No one stopped to notice the time spent during preparation or the time spent to...

 As Catholics we stand in an interesting place: we follow two calendars that are not always in sync. There is the liturgical calendar according to which our year ended with Christ the King and the every day, everyone calendar (in more cases this will be according to the old Gregorian calendar), which has the year ending on the 31st of Dec. While this might appears as if Catholics live torn between two worlds it is really a reminder of the call we have to maintain a balance. A reminder that while we are not of this world we are in it and in being in it we are called to bring God into it so that it can return to God.  Catholics are constantly exposed to both the earthly and the divine through the liturgy, it is the divine entering our everyday lives. This is enacted in a very real way by the intertwining of the liturgical calendar with the everyday calendar even when they do not align with each other perfectly. This is especially visible during Advent and Christmas. We prepare e...

The month of November begins with All Souls and All Saints. This coincides with a shortening of the day, the hours of darkness mark the rhythm of our routines. The leaves fall and it becomes colder. Everything seems to draw to a close, a visible and tangible reminder that the end of the liturgical year draws near.  The passing from this life into the next found in the Feast days that start the month initiate us into this period of closure of the liturgical year. The play of light and darkness of this period is symbolised in several feast days - St Martin, St Lucy, - and ultimately Advent. The Liturgical Calendar of the Church connects with the biblical idea of religious duties to be performed at the Temple found in the Old Testament. While the word Liturgy itself denotes especially public rather than private worship the connection between the two is a natural and necessary one in much the same way that fasting or abstinence from food aids in preparing the spirit, those private devo...