Sunday, May 20, 2012

242. What is the function of the liturgical year? (Part 1)


242. What is the function of the liturgical year? (Part 1)

(Comp 242) In the liturgical year the Church celebrates the whole mystery of Christ from his Incarnation to his return in glory. On set days the Church venerates with special love the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. The Church also keeps the memorials of saints who lived for Christ, who suffered with him, and who live with him in glory.
“In brief”
(CCC 1194) The Church, "in the course of the year,… unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from his Incarnation and Nativity through his Ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord" (SC 102 § 2). 
  To deepen and explain
(CCC 1168) Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a "year of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4:19). The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated "as a foretaste," and the kingdom of God enters into our time. (CCC 1170) At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox. Because of different methods of calculating the 14th day of the month of Nisan the date of Easter in the Western and Eastern Churches is not always the same. For this reason the Churches are currently seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord's Resurrection on a common date.
On reflection 
(CCC 1169) Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the "Feast of feasts," the "Solemnity of solemnities," just as the Eucharist is the "Sacrament of sacraments" (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter "the Great Sunday" (St. Athanasius (ad 329) ep. fest. 1: PG 24, 1366) and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week "the Great Week." The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him. [IT CONTINUES]  

 

(The question: “What is the function of the liturgical year?” continues)    

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