The Medieval Year, a weekly feature of the Via Mediaevalis newsletter, gives us an opportunity to appreciate calendrical artwork from the Middle Ages, reflect on the basic tasks and rhythms of medieval life, and follow the medieval year as we make our way through the modern year.
How well ordered and at peace with the earth - I can see it could be a very spiritual endeavor with the silence and the act of hope for the next crop. How different it is now - all mechanized and divorced from the feel of the earth. This is a good meditation for our life today. Thanks for that!
You're welcome! It's easy for us to forget the inherent spirituality of non-mechanized farming. Have you ever read Trochu's biography of St. John Vianney? This is one of my favorite passages: "He loved to repeat that salvation is easy for country folk; it is so easy for them to pray whilst they are at work."
I did have the book and read it long ago. A great quote, and thanks for sharing. I understand this, from just the little gardening I do - how life’s rhythms slow down when tending to the earth and growing things. Things are very simple and basic. Much easier to think of God, to pray for others. Desk jobs can be killers of spirit (and bodies).
So glad you enjoyed this post, Jack. Thanks for commenting. I dearly love the cycle of the seasons and for me, autumn is the most poetic and memorable. It speaks so deeply of the mystery of human life.
How well ordered and at peace with the earth - I can see it could be a very spiritual endeavor with the silence and the act of hope for the next crop. How different it is now - all mechanized and divorced from the feel of the earth. This is a good meditation for our life today. Thanks for that!
You're welcome! It's easy for us to forget the inherent spirituality of non-mechanized farming. Have you ever read Trochu's biography of St. John Vianney? This is one of my favorite passages: "He loved to repeat that salvation is easy for country folk; it is so easy for them to pray whilst they are at work."
I did have the book and read it long ago. A great quote, and thanks for sharing. I understand this, from just the little gardening I do - how life’s rhythms slow down when tending to the earth and growing things. Things are very simple and basic. Much easier to think of God, to pray for others. Desk jobs can be killers of spirit (and bodies).
This is my favourite of your essays so far, Robert. So poetic and evocative of autumn and the countryside in medieval times.
So glad you enjoyed this post, Jack. Thanks for commenting. I dearly love the cycle of the seasons and for me, autumn is the most poetic and memorable. It speaks so deeply of the mystery of human life.