Liturgical Year
Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 13 Overview of the Liturgical Year
Definition
What is the Liturgical Year? You will find definitions that speak of seasons, feasts, vestment colors, decorations, etc.; but of all the definitions of "Liturgical Year" and "Church Year" I have found, the most accurate and fruitful for catechetical purposes is: The Liturgical Year is the way we read the Bible. For further information see Chapter d37 The Role of Sacred Scripture in the Liturgy
Natural Year / Church Year
What is the difference between the Natural Year and the Liturgical Year? The natural year with it's seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) happens all by itself. The Liturgical Year is a construct. You have to make it happen.
How do you make the liturgical year happen? By choosing what to read when.
Think of the two hemispheres of the human brain: Left lobe [logic, word]; Right lobe [symbol, poetry, feeling]
Left Lobe: [the word and logical] The bible reading. The liturgical year is the way we read the Bible. Note: it is the readings that make the liturgical year. Reading the account of the birth of Jesus makes the day Christmas. This is a much better catechetical formulation than: We read the story of the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Know which readings are characteristic of which liturgical seasons.
Right lobe: [symbol] Color, light, vestment, decoration, ashes, palm, oil, water, etc. The liturgical year is the way we read the Bible. The symbols flow from the reading.
Anamnesis
We are not merely reading about the event (historicism). When the scriptures are read in the liturgy Christ himself speaks... Hodie (today)... We become present to the mystery. BRK: name, remember (anamnesis), petition (epiclesis). Good Friday (anamnesis) is not merely a "passion play" (historicism). The paschal victory is at the heart of human life, the liturgical year, the sacraments, the Eucharist, the Risen Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the Triune God. For further information on Anamnesis see Chapter d18 Glossary of Liturgical Terms
The point of Anamnesis is that we become present, not to the past event, but to the eternal mystery embodied in the event. The Pascal Mystery is a complex idea and to grasp it fully we must" Walk around it" and see it from different angles. For example: If I see a beautiful statue and I want to take a picture of it and send it to a friend, no one flat, two dimensional picture can capture the three dimensional statue. One must walk around the statue and take pictures of it from different angles and perspectives. This is what we do in celebrating the various feasts of the liturgical year. We walk around the mystery seeing its various aspects so that we can more better become present to it.
How We Read the Bible
How do we read the bible? We can read the bible two ways. ONE, beginning to end, as we find the text in the bible (= continuous, or semi-continuous reading) TWO, we can find events or themes. These twp ways of reading the bible are the basis for the two parts of the Liturgical year.
The Liturgical Year has two parts, depending on how the Scripture Reading is selected. 1) Time Throughout the Year, or the Non-Seasonal Time when the Bible is read (semi-) continuously and 2) Seasonal Time when the Bible is read by events or thematically.
The current legislation regarding the arrangement of seasonal and non-seasonal time in the the Roman Rite is contained in The Roman Calendar. The way the passages from the Bible are assigned to the different days is contained in The Roman Lectionary. The liturgical year (as found in The Roman Calendar) is "the way we read the bible in Church" and The Roman Lectionary contains the schedule for which reading is read on which day. The two books are obviously related. In order to achieve the liturgical renewal mandated by the Second Vatican Council, The Roman Calendar had to be revised prior to The Roman Lectionary.
Three Lectionaries
When do we read the bible? When do Catholics hear the Bible proclaimed liturgically? The largest number hear the word on Sunday. A smaller number hear the word on Sunday and on Weekdays. An even smaller number, besides celebrating the eucharist on Sundays and weekdays, also celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours. This gives rise to three cycles of readings -- each with semi-continuous times and theme times: 1) The Sunday cycle; 2) the Weekday cycle; 3) the Liturgy of the Hours cycle. The Sunday Cycle repeats every three years (based on the three synoptic Gospels); and other two cycles repeat every two years.
Non-Seasonal Time
Non-Seasonal Time or Time Throughout the Year employs a semi-continuous reading of the Bible. The readings are selected on principles intrinsic to the reading itself, rather than extrinsic to the reading. [Terms: Not "Ordinary Time" (not in Latin) and certainly not "Ordinary Sundays"] For a table showing how the Scriptures are read "Throughout the Year" see Chapter y15 The Roman Calendar
The Seasons
There are two Christian Seasons: Easter and Christmas.
The Easter Season has
three parts
1. Lent (pre-baptismal retreat) THINK: BAPTISM
2. The Paschal Triduum
3. The
Fifty Days. (7x7 = a week of weeks). [There are no Sundays "after"
Easter]. Acts / John
The Christmas Season has three parts
1. Advent [Isaiah] JOYFUL EXPECTATION
Week 1 - Eschatology
Weeks 2/3 - John the Baptist
Week 4 - Mary and Joseph.
2. Christmas
3. The Feasts of the Christmas Season
General Liturgical Principles
General Liturgical Principles for the reform of the calendar:
Review the importance of General Liturgical Principles with regard to obedience to liturgical law. Msgr. Jounel told us in class that the following six general principles guided the coetus in the reform of the calendar.
GP 1 Restore Sunday
GP 2 Christ over saints
GP 3 Seasons to original meaning
GP 4 Understandable to all the Faithful
GP 5 Subsidiarity: local celebrations to local churches
GP 6 Saints: truth in advertising
Classification
Classification of Liturgical Days
1. Solemnities2. Feasts
3. Memorials. Memorials can be of two types: Universal (obligatory) or Local (optional).
For a list of solemnities, feasts, and memorials see Chapter y15 The Roman Calendar
Typical Course Outline
1. Time Bible, Anamnesis, Paschal Mystery, General Principles, etc.
2. Sunday Day of Resurrection, Feasts and Solemnities of Our Lord
3. Easter Lent, Holy Week, Triduum, The Fifty Days, Pentecost
4. Christmas Advent, Christmas, Christmas Season, Epiphany
5. Saints Saints, Mary, Ember Days, Rogation Days, etc.
Vatican II -- Constitution on the Liturgy
Chapter V. The Liturgical Year
102. Holy Mother Church is conscious that she must celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse by devoutly recalling it on certain days throughout the course of the year. Every week, on the day which she has called the Lord's day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's resurrection, which she also celebrates once in the year, together with His blessed passion, in the most solemn festival of Easter.
TRR Commentary: Note
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 for all time, and the faithful are enabled to lay hold upon them and become filled with saving grace.
TRR Commentary: Note
103. In celebrating this annual cycle of Christ's mysteries, holy Church honors with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be.
TRR Commentary: Note
104. The Church has also included in the annual cycle days devoted to the memory of the martyrs and the other saints. Raised up to perfection by the manifold grace of God, and already in possession of eternal salvation, they sing God's perfect praise in heaven and offer prayers for us. By celebrating the passage of these saints from earth to heaven the Church proclaims the paschal mystery achieved in the saints who have suffered and been glorified with Christ; she proposes them to the faithful as examples drawing all to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she pleads for God's favors.
TRR Commentary: Note
105. Finally, in the various seasons of the year and according to her traditional discipline, the Church completes the formation of the faithful by means of pious practices for soul and body, by instruction, prayer, and works of penance and of mercy.
TRR Commentary: Note
Accordingly the sacred Council has seen fit to decree as follows.
TRR Commentary: The classic shape of liturgical law has two parts: the discursive part and the dispositive part. DISCURSIVE LAW: The discourse, the context, in which the dispositive law is given. DISPOSITIVE LAW: The "therefore" that follows upon the discourse or discursive law.
Chapter 5. THE LITURGICAL YEAR 102-111
Discursive 102-105 Dispositive 106-111
106. By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day; with good reason this, then, bears the name of the Lord's day or Sunday. For on this day Christ's faithful are bound to come together into one place so that; by hearing the word of God and taking part in the eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, the resurrection and the glorification of the Lord Jesus, and may thank God who "has begotten them again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope" (1 Pet. 1:3). Hence the Lord's day is the original feast day, and it should be proposed to the piety of the faithful and taught to them so that it may become in fact a day of joy and of freedom from work. Other celebrations, unless they be truly of greatest importance, shall not have precedence over the Sunday which is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year.
TRR Commentary: Note
107. The liturgical year is to be revised so that the traditional customs and discipline of the sacred seasons shall be preserved or restored to suit the conditions of modern times; their specific character is to be retained, so that they duly nourish the piety of the faithful who celebrate the mysteries of Christian redemption, and above all the paschal mystery. If certain adaptations are considered necessary on account of local conditions, they are to be made in accordance with the provisions of Art. 39 and 40.
TRR Commentary: Note
108. The minds of the faithful must be directed primarily toward the feasts of the Lord whereby the mysteries of salvation are celebrated in the course of the year. Therefore, the proper of the time shall be given the preference which is its due over the feasts of the saints, so that the entire cycle of the mysteries of salvation may be suitably recalled.
TRR Commentary: Note
109. The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the paschal mystery. This twofold character is to be brought into greater prominence both in the liturgy and by liturgical catechesis. Hence:
TRR Commentary: Note
a) More use is to be made of the baptismal features proper to the Lenten liturgy; some of them, which used to flourish in bygone days, are to be restored as may seem good.
TRR Commentary: Note
b) The same is to apply to the penitential elements. As regards instruction it is important to impress on the minds of the faithful not only a social consequences of sin but also that essence of the virtue of penance which leads to the detestation of sin as an offence against God; the role of the Church in penitential practices is not to be passed over, and the people must be exhorted to pray for sinners.
TRR Commentary: Note
110. During Lent penance should not be only internal and individual, but also external and social. The practice of penance should be fostered in ways that are possible in our own times and in different regions, and according to the circumstances of the faithful; it should be encouraged by the authorities mentioned in Art. 22.
TRR Commentary: Note
Nevertheless, let the paschal fast be kept sacred. Let it be celebrated everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged throughout Holy Saturday, so that the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection may be attained with uplifted and clear mind.
TRR Commentary: Note
111. The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church and their authentic relics and images held in veneration. For the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in His servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation.
TRR Commentary: Note
Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.
TRR Commentary: Note
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