In the Garden of Time

In the morning before I pray Vigils, I look at the Universalis 2008 calendar that I printed in January, its about 15 pages, and I keep it with the book I use, Benedictine Daily Prayer to pray the Divine Office, (Here is an example of the Divine Office).

I read the Universalis calendar to see who is the Saint for the day, whether it is a feast day, and to remind myself of the Psalm week I am in and the section of the year I am in, like now it is the 5th week of Eastertide (Saturday, April 26, 2008).

While sitting in our meditation room, I spend several minutes looking at the Universalis calendar before I start with “O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.”

This morning, I realized I like the Catholic church calendar because there are layers and recurring sequences in the calendar — cycles within larger cycles.

When I talked with my wife about how the Catholic calendar is structured differently than a regular calendar, she said that the Catholic calendar is like a large garden. Each part of a garden and the calendar has a focal point as you move through it. Each part of the calendar tells a story as does a well-designed garden.

I enter into a garden and I have that same sense about the Catholic calendar — I am inside the calendar, seeing and directly experiencing the treasures of each part.

A regular calendar is like being on a highway. There may be mile markers, but I am still on the highway rather than in that garden I was fortunate to spot along the way.