PSALM REVIEWER (Liturgical Seasons only) Midterms Second Semester

ADVENT SEASON

-the beginning of the liturgical year in the Catholic Church,

-Advent (from, "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to")

-is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas

-It was historically known as "little Lent," because, like Lent, it is a time of repentance, with prayer,
fasting, and Confession.

-begins four Sundays before Christmas and therefore varies in length between 22 days and 28 days.

In 2018, Advent is 23 days long. The following is a list of the dates of the Sundays and major feast days
that fall in Advent 2018.

• First Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 2, 2018)

• Feast of Saint Nicholas (Thursday, December 6, 2018)

• Immaculate Conception (Saturday, December 8, 2018)

• Second Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 9, 2018)

• Our Lady of Guadalupe (Wednesday, December 12, 2018)

• Feast of Saint Lucy (Thursday, December 13, 2018)

• Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) (Sunday, December 16, 2018)

• Fourth Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 23, 2018)

• Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24, 2018)

• Christmas (Tuesday, December 25, 2018)

• Traditionally, Advent wreaths are constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which four
candles are inserted, representing the four weeks of Advent. Ideally, three candles are purple
and one is rose, but white candles can also be used.

• The purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and
goods works undertaken at this time.

• The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, when the priest also wears rose
vestments at Mass; Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday of rejoicing, because the faithful have arrived
at the midpoint of Advent, when their preparation is now half over and they are close to
Christmas.
 • The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our
Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of his second coming to judge the living
and the dead.

DOGMAS ON MARY

Dogma - Doctrines solemnly proposed by the Church as formally revealed in Scripture or Tradition

◉ May have been done by:

- papal pronouncement (Pius IX: Immaculate Conception)

- a General Council (Chalcedon: Christ has two natures in one Divine Person)

- the ordinary & universal Magisterium (killing an innocent human being is

gravely immoral)

A. Immaculate Conception

◉ Feast Day: December 8 : “that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her
conception, by a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God and in view of the merits of
Jesus Christ, was kept free of every stain of original sin.”

◉ The invocation of the Immaculate Conception goes back to the year 1578 when Pope Gregory
XIII in a Bull issued on February 6 decreed that the Manila Cathedral should be erected under
the invocation of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

◉ Clement VIII decreed on August 13, 1595 that the Cathedrals of Nueva Segovia and Caceres also
be erected under the same title of the Immaculate Conception.

◉ Moreover, one of the three ships that reached the Philippines in the first voyage of Magallanes
in 1521 was the "Concepcion," named after the Immaculate Conception, together with the ships
"Trinidad" and "Victoria."

◉ Hence the Islands before being named Filipinas, and even before the name of Christ had begun
to be preached, saw on these shores the name of Mary under her title of the Immaculate
Conception.

B. Perpetual Virginity

◉ Feast Day: December 8

◉ Refers primarily to the conception and birth of Jesus

◉ Other expressions used: Ever-virgin, Mary the Virgin (before, during, after childbirth)
C. Assumption

◉ Feast Day: August 15

◉ Mary, was elevated or assumed into heaven by the power and grace of God

D. Mother of God

- Feast Day: January 1

- “Mother of God” translates to the Greek term “Theotokos” which means Birthgiver of God