Posted on 11/27/2010 1:44:05 PM PST by Salvation
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Unlike pagan religions which see time as an endless cycle, Christians see time as being linear; it has a beginning and will have an end. Within Christianity's linear, "big picture" sense of time, though, the passing of hours is experienced as cycles of meditations on holy things. Think of a spiral -- of a circle of time moving ever forward toward His Coming -- and you will have a sense of "Catholic time." The Catholic year (the "liturgical year") is made special by cycles of celebrations commemorating the lives of Jesus and His mother, the angels, and the legion of Saints who modelled lives of sanctity. Below are 25 Feasts and times, in chronological order, that demonstrate how the liturgical year is a reliving of the life of Christ:
Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve Here's an overview of the two liturgical cycles and their seven seasons -- those times that "do shift".
To determine the dates of the Proper of Seasons:
When two Feasts of the same rank fall on the same day, they are ranked further by whether they relate to (in descending order of preference):
If a day is neither a Sunday nor commemorative of any other Feast, it is called a "feria" (the word means "free day").
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United States |
Canada |
England & Wales |
Circumcision |
Circumcision |
Circumcision |
Ireland |
Scotland |
Australia & New Zealand |
Circumcision |
Circumcision |
Circumcision |
Other days a family might want to mark on their home calendars are:
The liturgical year is less confusing than it seems at first, but to follow along, you can do what most Catholics do and just pay attention to your parish bulletins and/or get a Catholic calendar each year. Angelus Press sells a beautiful traditional calendar; their phone number is 1-800-966-7337 (link will open in a new browser window).
For customs and traditions related to the liturgical year, see this page.
Footnotes:
1 In the Novus Ordo:
2 In older Missals, the Feasts are ranked thus:
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2010
As the earth cycles annually through its seasons, just so the Church celebrates with quiet, deliberate rhythm the seasons of the liturgical year always the same, yet ever new and renewing.
At the heart of this yearly cycle is the Sacred Liturgy, especially the celebration of the Mass, which is the source and summit of the Church's life.1
Annually, through the Proper of Seasons or Temporal Cycle, the Church immerses herself in the whole mystery of Christ, from the incarnation and birth until the ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of blessed hope and of the coming of the Lord.2 Further, in the Proper of Saints or Sanctoral Cycle, she honors with special love Mary, the Mother of God, and celebrates the feasts of martyrs and saints who are already in possession of eternal salvation.
Through her official public worship the Church recalls and celebrates these mysteries, dispensing to her members the treasure of Christs merits for their sanctification.3 This universal call to holiness, our sanctification, is the will of God for each of us who have by Baptism been grafted onto the Vine that is Christ and his Mystical Body.4 It is God who accomplishes the work of our sanctification through the liturgy, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The Mass admits of limitless levels and layers of understanding. A richness of outward signs points to inward realities of grace; sensible symbols become gateways to the mystical realm. The Church wisely uses externals words, gestures, and material things we can see, hear and smell to surround the sacred mysteries that will sanctify her children.
With urgency, therefore, the Magisterium encourages us to participate fully and actively in the liturgical sacrifice: by coming to it with proper dispositions; by offering our lives with the sacrifice of Christ our High priest; by growing in our knowledge and appreciation of the Mass; and by leading our children, through instruction and example, to a deeper understanding and love of the faith and the liturgy.5
But how are we to draw life from the Eucharistic sacrifice as water from a limitless spring? How can we make make participation in the sacred liturgy bear fruit in our homes and daily lives?
Within the Catholic home the domestic church we may make use of pious practices, objects and various traditions to join with the Church in living the liturgical year. By making use of customs, traditions, and devotional practices, parents, as first teachers of their children, will be building up the little kingdom of heaven that is their home. Ideally, this will culminate in the celebration of the liturgy, for every practice and custom that is not oriented towards the liturgy will be hollow and fail to produce worthy fruit.6
1. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium #10 Nevertheless, the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.
2. Vatican II Sacrosanctum Concilium #102
3. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, #102 Recalling thus the mysteries of Redemption, the Church opens to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present at all times, and the faithful are enabled to lay hold of them and become filled with saving grace."
4. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium #39 Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: For this is the will of God, your sanctification(1 Thes 4:3; Eph 1:4).
5. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, #14, Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as as chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people ( Pet. 2:9) , is their right and duty by reason of their Baptism.
6. Extract from the address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to the Plenary Meeting of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, p. 13, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy; the Liturgy is the center of the Churchs life and cannot be substituted by, or placed on a par with any other form of religious expression. Moreover, it is important to reaffirm that popular religiosity, even if not always evident, naturally culminates in the celebration of the Liturgy towards which it should ideally be oriented.
New liturgical year ping!
Circumcision?
in what church???
in the Catholic Church on Jan. 1st we celebrate: Mary, Mother of God
In what Benedict XVI calls the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, which uses the 1962 liturgy (Latin) and calendar, Jan. 1 is the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. As I recall, in the post-Vatican II (Ordinary) form, the Gospel reading for the Feast of Mary the Mother of God is the same as that for the Circumcision.
Personally, I attend Mass in both forms, depending on the day. I do like that celebrating the Circumcision emphasizes 1) continuity with and fulfillment of the Jewish law; 2) Christ as God-become-man, literally; 3) the importance of consecrating the body, as well as the spirit, to the service of God.
All three things are crucial in our times, and are tremendous signs of contradiction against secularism and modernism. For example, airy-fairy, modernist spirituality of the sort you'll hear at Catholic chapels in many American colleges "swallows the camel" of abortion by supposing that we can obey God and be charitable in our thoughts, while defiling God's law and killing our fellow man with our bodies.
Colors of the Liturgical Year
Green - Ordinary Time |
Violet - Advent & Lent, Mass for Life, Funerals (optional) |
Red - Passion, Holy Spirit, Martyrs, Pentecost, Confirmation |
White - Easter & Christmas, Feasts of Our Lord & non-martyrs, Funerals (opt.) (o |
Rose - 3rd Sunday of Advent and 4th Sunday of Lent (optional) |
Black - Funerals (optional) Masses for the Dead and All Souls (optional) |
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