– Tom Hennen, Life of a Day
‘Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has
its own personality quirks which can easily be seen
if you look closely.’
How does contemplation appear in the life of your day? I’ve heard from many of you that this question lingers as you listen to the contemplative echo calling you in your daily life. My hope is that this series will help you answer that question for yourself.
To begin, here are a few lines from a favorite poem of mine,
‘Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has
its own personality quirks which can easily be seen
if you look closely.’
Those words open Tom Hennen’s poem, The Life of a Day, and are key for me recognizing contemplation when it licks my face each day.
There is a historical and embodied answer to this question, How does contemplation arise in the life of a day? I’ll begin with my embodied response. Rather than a monk’s habit, I start and end the day in a bathrobe and sweat pants. I wake in the night not to be on bended knee before my beloved icons, but to change diapers and rub the backs of kids spooked by the dream world. I don’t dip my fingers in holy water as I enter a sanctuary, but a sink full of dishes. All of this is holy.
And what is the historical answer to how contemplation arises in the life of a day? It arrives from the Christian monastic tradition in the form of a daily practice called The Liturgy of the Hours. Our good friends over at Wikipedia define the Liturgy of Hours as the, “official set of prayers “marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer”.[3] It consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings and other prayers and antiphons.” The divine hours have been practiced over the centuries in monasteries around the world at set times throughout the life of a day. I’m grateful for the times I’ve been able to participate in this rhythm with my monastic pals. But how does the Liturgy of the Hours translate into my particular dance with life?
I am not trying to diminish this beautiful monastic tradition, my context is just so different, I’m simply seeking to make sense of the Mystery in my shoes. So these next 5 episodes of Contemplify are how the Liturgy of Hours show up in my life, and I can’t wait to share them with you. This Contemplify series is called The Life of a Day, with episode titles sharing corresponding themes to the Liturgy of the Hours; the upcoming episodes are Lauds, Terce, None, Vespers and Compline. And over these next 5 episodes you’ll get a taste of how I am attempting to hold a contemplative posture in the life of my day. And there will be a 6th episode in this series, an invitation on how you might see such a contemplative foundation to your life of a day. So with great excitement, let’s begin
The first of the series, Lauds, will be familiar to long time listeners and seemed necessary to include in this Life of the Day series since it was the spark that lit the fire. The rest of the series are brand spanking new interpretations of the Liturgy of the Hours.
One more note before you go, I’m intending to bring more series on contemplation in daily life like this to your ears this year in addition to artful conversations with contemplatives in the world as well. And with that, We’ll begin this series, The Life of a Day, starting with the next episode entitled, Lauds.
Photo credit: Photo by Nastya Kvokka on Unsplash
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