1

WTW (SLM 2020)

B. The Liturgical Year (Preliminary Reflections About The Liturgical Year)

Part 1: Man and Time

Preliminary Reflections about the Liturgical

A. MAN AND TIME

There is something very mysterious about time. On one hand, man is part of time: we
experience our going from life to death, our growing from young to old, we can and we do
adapt to various times and circumstances - man is truly immersed in time, on the other hand,
man experiences also that he cannot escape time: he can do so many things like making the
earth subject to him and even conquering the moon but he has no power over time; whether
rich or poor, whether influential or not, we cannot stop the time nor escape it. No wonder
then that many philosophers throughout the centuries reflected on the time dimension in
which man and the universe are caught Already the great Greek philosopher Heraclides in
the fourth century B.C. observed that everything moves, everything flows" (pantarhei). After
him many more offered insights into the human being as bound and limited by time like St.
Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas. Heidegger, etc.

Also in all the religions the time dimension of man plays an important role where does man
come from? Where does he go? What will happen to him after this time here on earth is over?
These are questions that arise and are answered on the background of the faith commitment.
The great religions strongly affirm that God alone is outside time and above time. In the Bible
there are beautiful texts concerning these reflections. One of them is found in Psalm 90:
"Before the mountains were or the earth or the world brought forth, you are God, without
beginning or end... to your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more
than a watch in the night... our life is over like a sigh. Our span is seventy years or eighty for
those who are strong. And most of these are emptiness and pain. They pass swiftly and we
are gone."

Compelled by the experience of fleeting time men created some fixed points to locate
events which were important for him. In the so-called primitive cultures" these were often
natural events like time of sowing, time of harvest, time of hunting, time of flood. In other
cultures stars, sun and moon became a great help in fixing certain feasts and rituals at
sunrise, at sunset, the day after full moon, the day of the new moon, etc The Greeks counted
the time according to the Olympic games, the Romans from the foundation of the city of Rome
in the year 753 B.C., the Jews from creation of the world. And so each culture had its own way
of fixing, locating or remembering important events and to save them from being swallowed
 2
WTW (SLM 2020)
up by the running time. In more recent times men invented artificial time meters in the form
of all kinds of watches. The sundial showed the time of the day by the shadow of a pointer on
a plate, the hour glass measured the time by the running of sand or water from the upper
compartment to the lower one, in more modern times the hours and minutes are counted by
mechanically rotating wheels which move the two hands on the twelve hours indicator and
in most recent times we have watches that indicate time in an electric or electronic way.

Very early days or months were dedicated to the divinity, especially to the astral gods Such
practices manifest that time was considered to be something mysterious which is not in the
power of man, and because of this it is put into the hands of the gods and entrusted to them
Since the sense for the sacredness of time and its mysteriousness has vanished to a great
extent, it is useful to present a brief overall view of the most important names which we are
still using today

1. The days of the week:

Sun-day- was dedicated to the Sun (dies Solis) And since the truc and never setting sun for
the Christians was the Lord Jesus Christ this day received from the fourth century on the
name "dies Dominica" the day dedicated to the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Today this still can
be seen in the words: Domingo (Spanish). Domenica (Italian). Dimanche (French).

Monday - Moonday was dedicated to the Moon (dies Lunae), this is still visible in Lunes
(Spanish), Lunedi (Italian), Lundi (French)

Tuesday (dies Martis) was dedicated to the divinity of the war, Mars. This is still visible in
Martes (Spanish), Martedi (Italian), Mardi (French) The Germanic tribes substituted Mars
with their own divinity of war Tiu, from which the English word Tuesday has its origin and
also the German word Dienstag

Wednesday (dies Mercurii) was dedicated to Mercury, the god of commerce eloquence and
travel who also served as messenger to other gods. This is still seen in Miercoles (Spanish),
Mercoledi (Italian) and Mercredi (French). The Germanic tribes substituted for Mercury
their own divinity of Wotan and because of this it is in English Wotan's day or Wednesday.
The German name' Mittwoch" (middle of the week) became widespread only in the tenth
century,

Thursday (dies lovis) was dedicated to Jupiter which is still seen in Jueves (Spanish), Giovedi
(Italian) and Jeudi (French) The Germanic tribes substituted for Jupiter their own divinity of
Donar or Thor and thus the English name Thursday and the German name Donnerstag
 3
WTW (SLM 2020)
Friday was the dies Veneris, the day dedicated to Venus which is still manifest in the names
Viernes (Spanish), Venerdi (Italian) and Vendredi.(French). The Germanic tribes substituted
for Venus the goddess of fertility ity, Freja or Freja, the wife of the god Wotan, and from this
comes the English name Friday and the German name Freitag

Saturday was the dies Saturninus, the day dedicated to Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture
and father of Jupiter. This is still visible in the English name Satur-day Very early the Hebrew
name Sabbath was also used to designate this day and thus Sabado (Spanish), Sabato
(Italian), Samedi (French).

Since the Christians did not believe in these divinities but recognized only the one God who
manifested himself in Jesus Christ, they did away with these pagan names and counted the
days of the week in a progressive way

Sunday remained the day of the never setting sun Jesus Christ, or it was also called the
Lord's day or the first day of the week.

Monday was the feria secunda, the second day of the week,

Tuesday was the feria tertia, the third day of the week,

Wednesday was the feria quarta, the fourth day of the week,

Thursday was the feria quinta, the fifth day of the week,

Friday was the feria sexta, the sixth day of the week, Saturday kept the latinized Hebrew name
Sabbatum

In the official Latin Church documents this way of counting the days of the week is kept
until now.

2. The months:

January, mensis Januarius, is dedicated to the Roman god Janus, the divinity of doors, gates
and all beginnings. He is represented with two opposite faces: one looking forward and the
other looking backward which is sometimes considered as 2 symbol for the New Years' day
because on this occasion we are looking back to the past year and we look forward to the
year ahead of us.

February, mensis Februarius, received its name from February (or Februar). the feast and
sacrifice of purification at the end of the year Since March was the beginning of the year in
 4
WTW (SLM 2020)
Roman antiquity, in February sacrifices were offered to atone for the wrongs of the past year
and to enter the new year with a pure heart.

March, mensis Martius, was dedicated to the Roman god of war. Mars. The new moon of this
month was considered to be the beginning of the New Year in old Roman times (cf. below the
names of the months September, October, November, December).

April, mensis Aprilis, has its name probably from the many flowers and blossoms which are
characteristic for this month (aperire = to open, to blossom, to flourish).

May, mensis Majus, was the month dedicated to the god of fertility and growth Majus In
Greek mythology it was Maia, the goddess of Spring and the mother of the messenger-god
Hermes. Because of this, the month of May became the month of Mary, the mother of our
Messenger-GodJesus Christ

June, mensis Junius, was the month dedicated to Juno She was the wife of Jupiter, the chief
Roman god, and because of this she was consid ered to be the queen of heaven and the
goddess of light, birth, women and marriage

July was called originally mensis Quintilis, ie the fifth month after the beginning of the year
in March Afterwards it received the name of "mensis julius" in honor of Julius Caesar who
was born on the twelfth day of this month in the year 100 B.C.

A similar thing happened to the month of August which was originally called mensis sextilis,
ie the sixth month after the beginning of the year in March. Afterwards it was renamed
"mensis Augustus" because the emperor Gaius Octavianus Augustus, a relative of Julius
Caesar and adopted heir, died on the nineteenth of this month in the year 14 A.D

September, mensis Septembris (septem = seven), the seventh month after the beginning of
the year in March

October, mensis Octobris (octo = eight), the eighth month after the beginning of the year in
March

November, mensis Novembris, (novem = nine), the ninth month after the beginning of the
year in March

December, mensis Decembris (decem = ten), the tenth month after the beginning of the year
in March

This brief and superficial over-all view shows how much the human being of former
centuries had awe and sacred respect for time. He experienced himself as being a part of
 5
WTW (SLM 2020)
time, immersed in it and shaped by it; but at the same time also subject to it. It was not in his
hands and in his power, and therefore he dedicated days and months to the divinities to
invoke their blessing and protection No wonder that also the first Chris - tians who were part
of such a culture followed in the footsteps of this tradition and celebrated and created their
own sacred year.

B. CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF TIME

Depending on world view, ideology, faith or belief we can have various kinds of
understanding of time. In a simplistic way, three basic forms can be distinguished: a linear,
a cyclic and a spiral understanding of time.

I. The linear understanding

One can think of time as just running ahead from beginning to end In a graphic way it looks
like this:

Beginning End

A Ω

In such a model the character of time is well expressed; there is a dynamic movement
in time, it is reflecting, and the present moment will not return anymore. But this model does
not express that there are high points and determining events in this world which are
outstanding and changing the course of time and which are not just one moment besides
others. For a Christian, the linear model is not acceptable because we do believe that the
Christ event is not just a moment of time like others but it is unique outstanding or, as the
letter to the Hebrews says, it has a once-for-all-the times character (Heb. 7,27; 9,26.28;
10,10)

2. The cyclic understanding

One can think of time also in the form of a circle or a ring. The moments of time are all
running in a closed curve at an equal distance from the center, leading back to the starting
point and recurring again. In a graphic way, it looks like this.
 6
WTW (SLM 2020)

center

Sometimes it is said that Buddhism follows this kind of understand ing of time when it
asserts that everything has its origin, passes and returns again. In this model it is well
expressed that we all turn around a central point: For us Christians this is the Christ event.
But what cannot be reconciled with our belief is the fact that everything returns again. We
Christians understand ourselves as a pilgrim church on the way to our eternal homeland,
and one day we will reach our goal, and we will be with Christ forever.

3. The spiral understanding

Goal; End of Time

Beginning

A spiral is something that winds around a center of a pole, and by doing this it moves forward
or advances to higher levels. In a graphic way such a model looks like this

Such an understanding of time fits very well our Christian life and belief. The middle line is
the Christ event or its becoming present again in gatherings and the sacraments of the
church. We believers are all movie around and along this line and by doing so we move
forward until we reach our final goal: to be with the Lord forever. In such a model the
centrality of the Christ event is properly emphasized and also the dynamic of its sacramental
and liturgical representation. In this way also the liturgical year will have to be understood
in the course of one year (one turn of the spiral) we turn around the Christ event and by
doing this we move forward or upward and come closer to our final goal (SC 102)
 7
WTW (SLM 2020)
C. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CALENDAR

Today it is made very easy for us: we all follow a Christian calendar which is prepared
for us by some experts, approved by Rome and given to the churches all over the world. This
has some very positive points because it safeguards and guarantees a basic Christian unity
all over the world. On the other hand, the centralized liturgical legislation can sometimes
limit the freedom to make major adaptations and too often the liturgy and its calendar
presents itself still in a Western form providing very little room for adaptation to native
cultures. It was not like this in the beginning of the Christian Church Jesus Christ did not
come and give to his followers a fixed ritual, prescribed prayers or even a calendar to be
followed, but he gave us a new spirit of worship and a new motivation to celebrate. Each
community of Christians had to find its own way of worship depending on the traditions they
had and on the cultural background where they lived. This gave rise to the many various
liturgies of the church and the various calendars. In the following, some factors that
contributed to the development and formation of the present calendar of liturgical
celebrations will be presented and explained

1. The Jewish culture and religion

God made himself visible in Jesus Christ. In the incarnation he assumed the nature of a man,
became a carpenter's son of Nazareth and brought God's message and revelation in the
framework of the Jewish culture and religion. The friends and first followers of Jesus, the
twelve and his disciples, were Jews and they lived out their discipleship in Jewish terms and
created the first Judaeo-Christian communities. No wonder then that the Jewish religion, its
feasts and celebrations, had a decisive influence on the formation of the Christian liturgy and
the arrangement of the feasts

Many of our prayers have their origin in the Jewish liturgy like: Amen, Hosanna, Sabaoth
(God of power and might), the Eucharistic prayer which has its roots in the Jewish Berakah
(the prayer of praise and thanksgiving) Following the example of Christ and in line with
tradition, the Ro man Catholic Church uses for the Eucharist unleavened bread as the Jews
did on the occasion of the Passover meal.

The Jews began the celebration of the Sabbath and of other great feasts on the evening before
which is also done by the Christian church; generally the liturgical day begins at midnight
but in the case of Sunday and solemnities, we follow the Jewish tradition and begin on the
eve with Evening Prayer I.

The Passover feast or Passah is the most important festivity in the Jewish liturgical
year. It is the celebration and ritual reenactment of the liberation from Egyptian slavery and
 8
WTW (SLM 2020)
captivity by the mighty hand of God, commemorating how he gave his people new freedom,
new hope and a new future. Also in the Christian liturgical year, Easter is the central and the
most important feast. Like the Jews we celebrate our liberation from the captivity of sin and
our golden freedom as children of God through the death and resurrection of Christ. Similar
to the Jewish Passah, also the date of the Christian Easter feast differs from year to year
depending on the full moon of spring.

Also the fifty days after Easter with the culminating feast of Pentecost has its roots in
the Jewish liturgical calendar, namely in the feast of seven weeks (Schawuot). Originally it
was an agrarian feast, a thanksgiving festival for the harvest. Later on it was interpreted in a
spiritual way and became the time of the proclamation of the Torah and the commemoration
of the covenant on Sinai and the many other covenants.

Many more instances could be mentioned to prove the influence of the Jewish festival
calendar on the Christian liturgical year, but this will be done later while explaining the
background of the Christian feasts. The above mentioned examples are at present proof
enough to show how much the Christian liturgy in general and the calendar of the liturgical
feasts in particular are influenced by the Jewish liturgy. After all in the incarnation the Son
of God became a Jew.

2. The Roman-Hellenistic culture

Very eariy the Christian message was preached also to people outside the Jewish
culture who did not know anything about the religion of the Jews and the customs and
festivities connected with it The Acts of the Apostles gives us a vivid description about the
process of adapting to pagan religions and the problems of ex-culturating the message of
Christ from the Jewish sphere and influence and inculturating it into a new pagan
background. It needed a vision from heaven to make Peter's mind open enough to realize
that God has called not only the Jews to faith in Jesus Christ but all men of good will. After he
had baptized the pagan Cornelius he experienced difficulties with his fellow believers. They
questioned him and he had to justify his conduct and behavior (cf. Acts 10:90). During the
Council at Jerusalem there were "heated discussions" (Acts 15:7) about the question
whether a pagan should first be circumcised and live according to the law of Moses before
he can be accepted into the Christian community. After much back and forth and under
leadership of Peter it was agreed not to impose any unnecessary burden on them: "We, with
the Holy Spirit, have decided not to put any other burden on you except what is necessary
not to eat meat that has been offered to idols, and not to do to anyone what you do not want
another to do to you. Keep these rules and be guided by the Holy Spirit" (Acts 15:28ff). This
was a very courageous pastoral-minded decision which opened the way to the golden
 9
WTW (SLM 2020)
freedom of the true children of God. Another marvelous example of inculturation the
message of Jesus Christ we find in the preaching of Paul in Athens He had to find a connecting
point for his evangelization and he did find it in the altar dedicated to the unknown God (Acts
17:23ff), Paul did not show any fear of being misunderstood or of not drawing a clear line
between the pagan gods and the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ. These few
instances from the Acts of the Apostles show how much tension the spread of the Christian
message (and the exculturation and inculturation connected with it) brought to the
community of believers and how much pastoral creativity was needed to overcome the
difficulties But with zeal ous missionary efforts and courageous approaches they succeeded
and so in Rome, the capital of the great empire, the Christian faith took firm roots and the
christian community began to flourish. There in the pagan and cosmopolitan environment of
that city, the Christians were challenged to adapt themselves and to find their own identity.

Rome exerted much influence in shaping the liturgy not only because Peter and Paul
died and were buried there but also because Rome was the center of the world at that time.
The best known heritage of the Roman Hellenistic culture to the liturgy of the Roman
Catholic Church is probably the language For about a thousand and five hundred years we
ce ebrated the liturgy in Latin, interwoven also with elements from the Greek culture like the
"kyrie eleison". The Latin language was such a predominant characteristic of the liturgy of
the Roman church that she is called even today the Latin Church (as compared to other
churches which celebrated the liturgy in the vernacular). Several traditions and customs in
the liturgy of the church originated in the church of Rome like the three masses on Christmas
day, the procession for the veneration of the cross on Good Friday and many of the liturgical
vestments (stole, alb, tunic, cope). The date of the twenty-fifth of December as the day of the
celebration of the birth of Christ is also a Roman heritage. On that day pagan Rome celebrated
the feast in honor of the never dying sun (natalie solis invicti) which was transformed by the
Christians into the feast in honor of the birth of Christ. Rome was the burial place of the
apostles Peter and Paul and, as such, the church of that city had a leading role among the
other churches. That is why the feast of the dedication of the major churches of Rome are
included in the calendar of the church and celebrated all over the world. November 9, the
dedication of the Lateran basilica, November 18, the dedication of St. Peter and of the basilica
of St. Paul outside the walls, August 5, the dedication of the most important Marian church,
St. Mary Major.

Finally another influence of Rome on the Christian calendar must be mentioned the
veneration of the saints, especially the martyrs. In the city of Rome and in other places of the
Roman empire severe persecutions of christians were going on because the Christians
refused to participate in the cult of the Emperors. They recognized only their one Lord and
 10
WTW (SLM 2020)
King Jesus Christ and preferred to be put to death than to betray him. Very early, probably at
the beginning of the second century, the martyrs were venerated by the Christian community
where they were buried Rome was blessed with very many of these martyrs, beginning with
Peter and Paul, bishops of Rome like Callixtus, Sixtus and Cornelius, the deacon Lawrence,
Sebastian, Agnes, Cecilia, ctc. Their feasts were not cel ebrated only in the church of Rome
but also in other churches of the world and several of these were mentioned by name in the
Roman canon (today Eucharistic Prayer 1).

These few facts are enough to show how much the Roman-Hellenistic culture influenced the
development of the liturgy of the church, especially the calendar of liturgical celebrations

3. The German culture

After the fall of the old Roman empire various peoples invaded Italy, within the space of
sixteen years (S36-552) Rome was taken and retaken six times, and what all these sieges
meant for this great city and its population one can easily imagine. Charlemagne (742-814)
wanted to build up a new kind of empire the Holy Roman German Empire. He understood
himself as another Constantine who was called to protect the church from within and
without, and he was aware that this in turn would strengthen his reign. In a letter to Pope
Leo III he wrote: "It is my office with the aid of the divine goodness to defend the holy church
of Christ against the attacks of the infidels from without, and to sustain it within by the
profession of the Catholic faith. It is only natural that in such an atmosphere and
environment the liturgical life of the church flourished. Under the leadership of the emperor,
assisted by his teacher, friend and adviser Alcuin, liturgical customs observed in the empire
of Charlemagne were introduced into the Roman liturgy. The number of the feast days
increased considerably and there was a great development of the cult of the Saints. In fact it
is due to the influence of Alcuin that the festival of All Saints, which was celebrated in England
and Ireland, became known and was propagated also on the continent "We owe All Saints
Day to Alcuin" this is the result of the masterly research by the well -known scholar Gerald
Ellard.

In summary we can observe that the Christian faith and its celebration in the liturgy
underwent a continuous process of acculturation and inculturation which had also its impact
on the calendar of the Church. Three cultures especially exerted a decisive influence the
Jewish, the Roman-Hellenistic and the German. It is to be hoped that in the future the many
marvelous cultures of Africa, America and Asia will have more impact on liturgy and
calendar. The church will, thus, be enriched and truly become catholic (worldwide).
 11
WTW (SLM 2020)
D. DOCUMENTS WHICH REGULATE THE CHURCH YEAR

1. The Roman Martyrology

The martyrology is - as the name indicates - a list of martyrs in the order of their feasts
as they were celebrated in the local church. Later on, saints who were not martyrs were
added Mentioned in the martyrology are usually the name of the saint or martyr, the date of
his commemoration, the place of martyrdom or cult and a brief remark about his life and
death, sometimes legendary, sometimes historical. These lists of martyrs regulated the
celebrations of saints in the local churches.

The oldest martyrology we know dates back to the year 354. It was written by Furius
Dionysius Filocalus, begun in 336 and completed in 354. It is composed of two lists of saints:
one containing the bishops honored each year in the church of Rome (depositio
episcoporum) and the other one containing the names of martyrs (depositio martyrum)
venerated in that church. Another martyrology was compiled between 362 and 381,
probably in the year 363. The original was lost but we have a Syriac copy of it from the year
411, the so-called Syriac Breviary or the Calendar of Antioch. It carries the marvelous
subtitle: "The names of our Masters, the Martyrs and Victors, with the dates on which they
received their crowns" which shows the importance of the martyrs in the life of the Christian
community and the pride the Christians had in their saints. Probably the most important
among the old martyrologies is the martyrology of St. Jerome (martyrologium
Hieronymianum) which appeared in Northern Italy about the year 430. It claimed as its
author St. Jerome hut this has been proven as false. The name Jerome was only used to give
to this martyrology a great weight and to contribute to its spread and acceptance It is a
compilation or lists of martyrs as they were venerated in the church of Rome. Carthage and
in some Oriental churches Throughout the middle ages we see the publication of many
martyrologies, and on January 14, 1584 Pope Gregory XIII published an official Roman
martyrology which became obligatory all over the Latin church. At present a new
martyrology is being worked on in the light of historical science and of modern times. While
the martyrology is important for the liturgical year because it orders the celebration of the
feasts of the saints by assigning them to the days of the year, it is not enough to regulate the
whole year of the church. As Christian communities we do not celebrate only feasts of saints
but first of all the various mysteries of the life of the Lord distributed over various seasons.
To regulate this — together with the celebration of the feasts of the saints we have the
calendar.
 12
WTW (SLM 2020)
2. The Roman calendar

The term calendar derives from the Latin word "calendar" which designated the first day of
the month in old Roman times. On this day the upcoming events and celebrations of the
month ahead were announced (calare - proclaim).

The calendar is therefore the book which contains the structure of the liturgical year and the
rules and regulations governing it. In the second part of this book is the official commentary
to the rules and the explanation of the principles that were applied in the revision of the
calendar. It was published in 1969 and became effective on January 1, 1970.

This document contains the following parts:

a. the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, dated March 21, 1969, in which some
principles are given for the implementation of the new calendar, especially for the difficult
transition period from the old one to the new one.

b. the Apostolic Letter, "Mysterii Paschalis", of Pope Paul VI, dated February 14, 1969. In this
letter the Pope explains how the church throughout the centuries always struggled to make
the celebration of the mysteries of the Lord the center of the Christian life Also the new
calendar with its regulations has no other purpose than to emphasize the centrality of the
paschal mystery. The celebration of the feast of the saints is legitimate, useful and in line with
our tradition, but they should never be allowed to increase in such a way as to obscure the
paschal mystery "The Catholic church has always believed that the feast of the saints
proclaim and renew the paschal mystery of Christ" (Decree II)

c. General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the calendar Sixty one norms and laws are given
to regulate the celebration of the liturgical year and to explain the principles governing the
new calendar Nos. 1-47 concern the liturgical year the liturgical day in general, the various
sea sons and the rogation and ember days Nos. 48 - 61 concern the calendar: the kinds of
calendars, the proper day for celebrations and the table of liturgical days

d. The General Norms are followed by the new General Roman calendar, the new Litany of
the Saints and the Roman calendar to be followed during the transition period until the
publication of the new liturgical books.

E. Next is a Commentary on the Liturgical Seasons, on the Feasts of the Saints and on the
Litany of the Saints. This commentary is invaluable because it does not give only the
principles of the reform and their explain nation but also sound, brief and precise historical
information about the liturgical feasts, especially the Saints
 13
WTW (SLM 2020)
The Roman calendar is a general book intended as basic structure and guideline. It had to
be adapted by the various local churches all over the world (and also by the religious
communities) so that their legitimate customs, feasts and traditions can be integrated. The
Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) decided in 1975 to have a national calendar
valid for the whole of the Philippines and to do away with diocesan calendars, valid only for
an individual diocese. Also in this national calendar however feasts of saints popular in some
localities can be celebrated on the customary date, at the discretion of the local ordinary.

E. OVERALL VIEW OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR AND ITS EXPLANATION (CHART)

 14
WTW (SLM 2020)
"In the course of the year, holy mother Church unfolds the mystery of Christ from the
incarnation and nativity to the ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed
hope of the coming of the Lord" (SC 102). This statement of the Second Vatican Council could
be easily misinterpreted in such a way that centuries ago someone had made a wonderful
plan and distributed the celebration of the various mysteries of Christ over the period of a
whole year. But the historical reality looks differently. It all began with a simple weekly
commemoration of the Lord's passion and resurrection on Sundays Afterwards a great
yearly celebration of the paschal mystery was added only much later came the com memo
ration of the incarnation and nativity. The liturgical year therefore developed in a living
process over the centuries.

The chart shows very beautifully how the fifty-two weeks of the year are situated
around and centered in the paschal mystery of Christ, symbolized by the cross (death) and
the Easter candle (resurrection) This is still specified by the Alpha and the Omega, the first
and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, to signify that Christ is the beginning and end of
everything. The black lines in the circle mark the Sundays; they too are directed towards the
symbols of the paschal .mystery because before we had a yearly Easter celebration, the
Christians celebrated every Sunday the death and resurrection of their Lord. The Lord's day
is therefore truly a little Easter feast, the origins feast day, the foundation and kernel of the
whole liturgical year (SC 105). The chart shows clearly two special cycles the Christmas cycle
(weeks 1 - 7) and Easter cycle (weeks 14 -27).

The Christmas cycle is composed of Advent and Christmas season. The Christmas season
can be divided again into the Christmas feast proper, the octave and the rest of the season.

The Easter cycle has as its center and high point the Paschal Triduum, beginning Holy
Thursday evening and lasting until Easter Sunday. This is preceded by Lent and followed by
the Easter season. The Easter season can be subdivided again into the Easter octave and the
rest of the Easter season, until Pentecost.

The remaining weeks of the church year (color green) is the so-called ordinary time" or
"the time throughout the year" in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is
celebrated, but rather the Christ event in all its fullness and especially the power of Christ
revealed and manifested in the saints of the church It is divided into two parts the one from
the end of the Christmas season to Ash Wednesday, and the other one from the end of the
Easter season to the beginning of Advent.
 15
WTW (SLM 2020)
In a schematic in the follow-up of the church year looks like this:

A. Christmas cycle

1. Advent the beginning of the liturgical year First of Advent until December 24
inclusive

2. Christmas

a. Feast proper December 25

b. Octave December 26 January 1 inclusive

c. The rest of the Christmas Season January 2 until Baptism of the Lord

B. Ordinary Time, Part I Monday after Baptism of the Lord until Tuesday before Ash
Wednesday inclusive

C. Easter Cycle

I. Lent Ash Wednesday until the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass inclusive

II. Paschal Trillium Holy Thursday Last Supper Mass until Easter Sunday inclusive

III. Easter Season

a. Octave Easter Sunday to Second Sunday of Easter

b. The rest of the Easter Season: Monday after Second Sunday of Easter until
Pentecost inclusive

D. Ordinary Time Part II: Monday after Pentecost until Saturday before First Sunday of
Advent

The follow-up of the seasons of the Church Year can easily be kept in mind with the
catchword ACOLPEO, the word formed by the initials of the seasons

Advent Christmas
Ordinary time, Part
Lent
Paschal Triduum
Easter Season
Ordinary Time, Part II
 16
WTW (SLM 2020)
An overall view according to the historical origin looks very different from the one according
to the follow-up of the seasons. It is not easy to indicate the historical origin of the seasons
and to place them in the proper order, because they developed gradually and progressively
and were often different from one local Church to the other. The indicated time in the scheme
below therefore has to be accepted with great caution:

1. Sunday: it is the oldest feast, the weekly commemoration of the death and resurrection of
the Lord, going back to apostolic times. The incarnation was included in this weekly Easter
Feast.

2. Yearly Easter celebration: it originated in the middle of the second century (perhaps it also
goes back to apostolic times but we do not have written testimonies for this). In the fourth
and the fifth century this celebration developed into a Triduum.

3 Lent: It is a preparation time for the yearly Paschal feast; it can be traced back to the fourth
century.

4. Easter Season: It is the extended period of joy and festivity about the resurrection of the
Lord which included the Pentecost. The beginnings of this season are in the third to the
fourth century

5. Christmas feast: Its origin is in the fourth century.

6. Advent Similar to Lent (as a preparation period for Easter) the Christians began to observe
in the 4th century a preparation period for Christmas. It was further developed in the sixth
to the eighth century

7. Christmas Season (which included Epiphany, the Christmas feast of the East): It originated
in the fourth century and was further developed in the seventh century.

8. Ordinary time: An indication of is origin is not possible and it developed through all the
centuries.

From this schematic presentation it is obvious that the oldest and the most important
part of the liturgical year is the Easter feast with the preparation time of Lent and the time
of festivity until Pentecost. The Christ mas feast, with its preparation period of Advent and
the season of festivity (Christmas season), followed in a later period.
 17
WTW (SLM 2020)
F. THE "CHURCH YEAR”: WORD AND CONCEPT

It is a relatively new term which is found for the first time in 1589 in a sermon of the
Lutheran Pastor of Magdeburg (Germany), Johannes Pomarius. That such a concept was
coined is a sign and an indication that, at that time, the civil year was looked at in a
secularized way In the middle ages the year from its beginning to end was the "annus
Domini" (the year of the Lord, abbreviated AD), belonging to God and under his care. It seems
that in the sixteenth century such an understanding of time was fading, and that is why
Johannes Pomarius created a "new year" which he called "church year" And this later came
to be known also in its latinized form as "liturgical year" (annus liturgicus)

In its origin the liturgical year was considered to be a kind of a counterpart to the
secularized understanding of the civil year. Today, it cannot be understood that way any
longer. We believers know that all our time is God's time and that every year -- civil or
liturgical - is always the year of the Lord. After all, Christ came into this world and made
himself subject to time, and because of this everything was made holy and became sanctified.
When we make use today of the word "church year" or "liturgical year" we do not intend to
create a rival to the civil year, but we simply mean the follow-up of feasts and seasons
celebrated by the Christian community in the course of one year. Since the middle ages
Advent is considered to be the beginning of the liturgical year (cf. below under Advent).

Perhaps the time has come for us to have a critical look at the concept and reality of
the church year. We cannot dispense with a term to designate the follow-up of liturgical
seasons and celebrations, and to present it as a unity, similar to the term "school year",
"business year", etc. But is it necessary that we go on beginning the year of the church with
Advent while the vast majority of humankind observes the beginning of the year on the first
of January? Could it not be that the beginning of the civil year and the beginning of the
liturgical year are celebrated on the same day namely on the first of January? By doing this
there would be a great occasion to give more spiritual and religious weight to the beginning
of the civil year, which at present is very much neglected by the official liturgy of the church
(cf. below first of January).
 18
WTW (SLM 2020)
G. VARIOUS VALUES OF LITURGICAL DAYS

In arranging and ordering the liturgical year, the church throughout the centuries created
various systems to classify the individual feasts and to express their importance and priority.
In the calendar of 1969, the following terminology was introduced.

1. Sunday- It is the original feast day and the weekly commemoration of the resurrection of
the Lord, going back to apostolic times It is, therefore, a day of special importance and can
be replaced only by solemnities or by feasts of the Lord. Following the Jewish custom of the
Sabbath celebration, the Sundays already begin on Saturday evening.

2. Solemnity- This is a feast day of greatest importance, and it can have as its content a
mystery of the Lord or a saint. Because of their importance solemnities begin not only at
midnight, but on the evening of the preceding day, to allow a good spiritual preparation and
to set the mood of festivity several of the solemnities have their own special Vigil Mass that
may be celebrated on the eve before. We can distinguish between movable solemnities,
whose dates differ from year to year, and fixed solemnities whose days are unchanging

3. Feasts- They are commemorative celebrations of an event of the life of Christ (for instance
February 2: Presentation of the Lord August 6: Transfiguration), or of a saint that is of special
importance. We distinguish movable feasts, whose dates are not fixed but differ from year to
year (e.g Feast of the Holy Family, Baptism of the Lord), and twenty three fixed feasts, among
them the twelve apostles. But this number can be changed by local adaptations.

4 Memorial- It is a simple remembrance of a saint, and whenever possible it is celebrated on

his birthday to eternal life, i.e. on the day of his death We distinguish between obligatory
memorials and optional or fac. talkative as. An obligatory memorial is the commemorative
celebration of a saint of universal importance and should therefore be celebrated in the
church throughout the world. The Roman calendar lists sixty-three of these memorials. An
optional or facultative memorial is a commemorative celebration of a saint whose
observance is left to the discretion of the individual; ninety-five of these memorials are listed
in the calendar. It is obvious that the memorials are very much subject to change. With the
many canonizations and beatifications going on today, with the great diversity of pastoral
needs and with the renewed national consciousness of our times, it will be the task of every
Bishops' Conference to adjust the calendar to the local needs. The list of the saints to be
celebrated in a local church should be truly expressive of its cultural and historical back
ground. At the same time it should not be forgotten that a local church is part of a catholic
(worldwide) and missionary church.
 19
WTW (SLM 2020)
5. Weekdays or Ferial Days: They have different values. Ash Wednesday and Monday to
Wednesday of Holy Week are of greatest importance and take precedence over all other
celebrations. The weekdays of Advent from December 17 to 24 inclusive, the days within the
Octave of Christmas and the weekdays of Lent give way to solemnities and feast but not to
memorials. All other weekdays yield to solemnities and feasts or are combined with
memorials.

H. TWO GENERAL OBSERVATIONS FOR A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING AND

CELEBRATION OF THELITURGICAL YEAR

1. Meaning and importance of celebrating a feast

A Christian always has a reason to celebrate because we believe in a God who is love,
a God who reached out to us and a God who became one of us. A feast in the Christian sense
includes two aspects: an acknowledgment of the loving deed of God and the response to it
from the part of man. This should be given in a two-fold form in praise and thanksgiving and
in handing on the love of God to others. Because of this the exhortations to mutual charity in
the Bible are numerous, and the service to God which does not become a service to neighbor
is criticized and considered to be null and void (cf. ls 1 10-17; Jas 1 19-2:9, 1 Jn. 4:19-21). The
Christ.an feast does not take its origin from a human effort or even from the desire to get a
favor from God, but it is a recognition that God loved us first. Thus it is ultimately God inviting
us to celebrate. In this way, a feast can be considered as a kind of prophetic warning not to
forget the great deeds of God amidst the worries of daily life.

Since a feast always includes festivity, joy and time for oneself, it is a counterpart to
the daily life and work. It should make us critical towards the pressures of time and duties.
Man is not a working animal and cannot just produce and bring forth all kinds of things, but
in order to keep his human dignity he needs time off and leisure, and this is what a feast
provides. A festivity has therefore always a liberating and truly a humanizing effect, because
it helps us to be ourselves, and brings us into new relationship with God and our fellowmen."
And finally a last aspect of a feast will have to be mentioned: the community dimension. A
feast in the full sense of the word is not celebrated by an individual alone but always in
community. The oldest cultic communities are the family, the clan or the tribe where feasts
— also Religious ones — were celebrated. Later on, these groups developed and grew in
number and became the great religious communities like the Jews, Christians, Moslems, etc.
whose strong bond of unity were and are the feasts celebrated. Today there is a trend to go
away from large festive celebrations and to return again to the original family-like setting
like in basic Christian communities, neighborhood Masses, etc., but the fact remains that
celebrating feasts together promotes and fosters unity and community.
 20
WTW (SLM 2020)

2. All the Christian feasts are celebrations of Christ

God became man in Jesus Christ who was in all things similar to us except sin. He
suffered and died, he rose again and is now seated at the right hand of his Father. This is part
of our Creed, and it is exactly this Christ mystery that is the content of the whole liturgical
year. He became man, suffered and died, once for all the times. But Christ is now in his glory,
and he is Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17) and can no longer suffer and die. It is the glorified Christ who
is with his community when they gather, he leads them and instructs them, he presides over
their celebration and sanctifies them. Every liturgical celebration is a sacred action
surpassing all others, because it is an action of the glorified Christ and of his body, the church
(cf. SC 7). The awareness of the presence of the glorified Christ in their assemblies led the
Christians to give to their Lord the title of the emperor "Kyrios" and they represented him in
the apse of their churches as sitting on the royal throne, surrounded by the heavenly court
and pre siding over their assembly. It is important to keep this always in mind while
celebrating the festivities of the liturgical year. When we gather on Christmas to celebrate
the Nativity of Christ or on Good Friday to celebrate the passion and the death of the Lord
these are commemorative celebrations, but Christ does not become man anymore nor can
he suffer and die. These events become mysteriously present again in the midst of the
Christian community but they cannot be repeated and do not have to be repeated. In this
regard there are still quite a few misunderstandings among the faithful, and still much
remains to be done to give proper catechesis and to purify or correct some popular customs
and traditions.

Also celebrating feasts of saints we ultimately celebrate always Christ that a human
being is able to reach the level of outstanding sanctity is not due to his or her efforts, but it is
the work of the grace of God coming to us through Christ. Rightly therefore the Second
Vatican Council can say: "The feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in
his servants and offer to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation" (SC 111). Also in
this regard much remains to be done to lead the people to a correct veneration of the saints.
They are meant to be transparent, not to attract people to themselves but are signposts
pointing to the grace of God. Because the saints are "only" reflections of Christ, the Second
Vatican Council warns of a too great increase of the feasts of the saints to the detriment of
the celebration of the mysteries of salvation. In order to avoid this, many feasts of saints
should be left optional for particular churches (cf. SC 111).