Liturgical Year
Part 4 Christmas
Chapter 42 Christmas
Preliminary QuestionsBibliography |
Ten Finger HistoryTheologyDate of Christmas |
SymbolsTo Think About |
Preliminary Questions
Which is your favorite feast, Easter or Christmas? How is Christmas different for you now that you are an adult from your recollections of Christmas when you were a child? Do you enjoy all the gift giving, card sending, tree decorating, etc of Christmas or does it just seem like "a too busy" time?
Bibliography
Code of Canon Law. Book IV, Part III, Title II: Sacred Times (cc 1244-1253). CLSA Commentary, pp 853-855.
Murray Bodo. Francis: The Journey and the Dream. "Christmas at Greccio" p 95.
Adrian Nocent. The Liturgical Year. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1977. Vol. 1 Advent, Christmas, Epiphany.
Ten
Finger History
Christmas
1. Apostolic [0-399]
2. Patristic [400-799]
3. Early Medieval [800-1199]
4. Medieval [1200-1299]
5. Late Medieval [1300-1499]
6. Reformation [1500-1699]
7. After Trent [1700-1899]
8. Before Vatican II [1900-1959]
9. Vatican II [1960-1975]
10. After Vatican II [1975-2050]
Theology
Incarnational Theology: God became a real human being; incarnational religion; a regard for this earth and its real people and real problems; (real bread and real wine).
Date of Christmas
Symbols
Crib
Tree
Light
To Think About
The Sacramentary gives a proper Preface to each of the Sundays of Lent (Cycle A). In the same literary genre, compose prefaces for the Masses of Christmas and Epiphany. Compare yours with those in the Sacramentary.
In colleges and universities in the United States, the students often go home for Christmas vacation towards the end of the Advent season. Christmas Masses are celebrated before the students leave for vacation. Comment on this practice and give a pastoral solution to the problem.
"The seasons of the natural year happen by themselves; the seasons of the Church Year must be caused to happen." In the change of our devotional piety following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, many of the things which caused a liturgical season to happen have been lost. State several ways (family customs, devotional practices, etc.) which can cause Advent to "happen" in the contemporary parish.
State the differences in the celebration of Epiphany in the East and West.
© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved. This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M. Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own. Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it. This site was updated on 06/05/07 . Your comments on this site are welcome at webmaster2@tomrichstatter.org.