Lent Course 2012

The 2012 Lent Course is entitled “The Spirituality of ‘The Book of Hours’ by Rainer Maria Rilke” and will be led by Canon Patrick Woodhouse. The three lectures in the series will be on 29 February, 7 March & 14 March. All lectures are held in the Cathedral Education Room at 7.30pm. Admission free, retiring collection.

LECTURE 1: Who was Rainer Maria Rilke, and what is the significance of his writing for our times?

LECTURE 2: ‘The Book of a Monastic Life’

LECTURE 3: ‘The Book of Pilgrimage’ and ‘The Book of Poverty and Death’

The Book of Hours is a series of poems, in three parts, written by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke at the end of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth century. Rilke wrote these poems in the persona of a Russian Orthodox Monk. They are sometimes called ‘Love Poems to God’. They are both extraordinarily profound and, though written over a century ago, strangely contemporary. In these three devotional addresses we will aim to glimpse something of the depth of Rilke’s inner world, touch on some of his key themes, and reflect on how these poems may help shape our own attempts to be still in the presence of God.