241. What is the center of the liturgical season? (part 1)
(Comp
241) The center of the liturgical season is Sunday which is the foundation and
kernel of the entire liturgical year and has its culmination in the annual
celebration of Easter, the feast of feasts.
“In brief”
(CCC 1193) Sunday, the
"Lord's Day," is the principal day for the celebration of the
Eucharist because it is the day of the Resurrection. It is the pre-eminent day
of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian family, and the day of joy
and rest from work. Sunday is "the foundation and kernel of the whole
liturgical year" (SC 106).
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1163) "Holy Mother
Church believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse
in a sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year.
Once each week, on the day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the
memory of the Lord's resurrection. She also celebrates it once every year,
together with his blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all feasts.
In the course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ
.... Thus recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the
faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some
way made present in every age; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled
with saving grace" (SC 102).
(CCC 1164) From the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed
fixed feasts, beginning with Passover, to commemorate the astonishing actions
of the Savior God, to give him thanks for them, to perpetuate their
remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them. In
the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once
for all, and its consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on
fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ.
On reflection
(CCC 1165) When the Church
celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her prayer:
"Today!" - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call
of the Holy Spirit (Cf. Mt 6:11; Heb 3:7- 4:11; Ps 95:7). This
"today" of the living God which man is called to enter is "the
hour" of Jesus' Passover, which reaches across and underlies all history:
Life extends over all beings and fills them with unlimited light; the Orient of
orients pervades the universe, and he who was "before the daystar"
and before the heavenly bodies, immortal and vast, the great Christ, shines
over all beings more brightly than the sun. Therefore a day of long, eternal
light is ushered in for us who believe in him, a day which is never blotted
out: the mystical Passover (St. Hippolytus, De
pasch. 1-2 SCh 27, 117). [IT
CONTINUES]
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