Liturgical

Year
Catholic Calendar
RE 8: THE LITURGICAL YEAR,
LITURGIES, AND PARA-LITURGIES
 Introduction
- When we think about a year we often think of it in terms
of its seasons.
- Each season has its particular feel, its own customs and
activities that we associate with it.
- We adapt or change according to the season.
- We wear different clothes, play different sports, and eat
different foods. We even associate colours with different
seasons.
 Introduction
- Our life journey too, can be viewed
using the image of seasons. We
experience seasons in the physical,
social, emotional and spiritual
aspects of our lives.
 Introduction
- A calendar year incorporates the
seasons in twelve months or fifty two
weeks which include holidays,
commemorative days and days that we
could term as ordinary.
 Liturgical Calendar
- The Liturgical Year is similar in the way it
is organized.
- It provides particular occasions and whole
seasons to ritualize the significant
movements in our Christian life.
- It is through this cyclical process that the
Church renews itself again and again.
 Liturgical Calendar
- In the Liturgical Year every season or feast day has
its own unique symbols and color which help us to
explore and be involved in the mystery of the
incarnation, birth, life, death and resurrection of
Jesus.
- We begin the Liturgical Year on the First Sunday of
Advent then move to Christmas, Ordinary Time,
Lent, Triduum or Three Days, Easter, Pentecost and
Ordinary Time again, finishing with the feast of
Christ the King.
 Liturgical Calendar
- The liturgical seasons provide us
with a way of looking at the same
mystery from different aspects in
order to learn something new each
time we experience them. Year after
year it invites us to deepen our
relationship with Jesus.
 Liturgical Calendar
- The Scriptures take us through the Liturgical Year
on a three year cycle.
- The Church designates readings to be used for each
day on a three year cycle. We have Liturgical Years
A, B and C.
- We look at Jesus and our own lives through the
Gospel of Matthew (Cycle A), Mark (Cycle B) and
Luke (Cycle C). The Gospel of John is included at
particular times in all three cycles.
 Liturgical Calendar
- The liturgical year is one way that
we can interpret the Scriptures,
enabling us to integrate our life
experience with the life of Jesus. It is
how we express our identity as
Christians.
Liturgical
Seasons
 01
ADVENT
SEASON
Advent is the beginning of the
Church Year.
 ADVENT SEASON
- Advent is the beginning of the Liturgical Year.
- contains four Sundays.
- A time for anticipation, preparation, joy and
hope.
- We use it to grow in our understanding of
Christian joy and hope and of what we
celebrate at Christmas.
 ADVENT SEASON
- During Advent we celebrate and prepare to
remember Jesus' entry into the world at Christmas
and it is a way of preparing for the coming of Christ
at the end of time.
- It helps reveal to us what it means to have a deep
concern for human well-being, for what Jesus called
the "kingdom of God". (Densley 2002)
 ADVENT SEASON
- The color of Advent is violet or a shade of purple.
- A widespread practice during Advent is the use of
an Advent Wreath.
 ADVENT SEASON
- A new candle is lit on each of the four
Sundays of Advent. - However, it is important
to note that the candle lit on the third Sunday
of Advent is rose or pink symbolising joy.
- The candle lit on Christmas day is white.
- Advent calendars are often used to focus on
how we prepare for Christmas.
 02
Christmas
Season
Jesus Christ, born of Mary is truly
human and truly God
 Christmas Season
- We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ
- God is with us always
- Includes the Feast of the Holy Family
(December 30), the Feast of the Mother of God
(January 1) and Epiphany (January 6).
- It is the season where we focus our lives on
reaching out to others in peace and goodwill.
 03
Lent
a time for spiritual growth
and renewal
 Lenten Season
- After a few weeks of Ordinary Time
- Lent commences on Ash Wednesday and continues
until Holy Week.
- Lent is a 40 day fast and penance period in the
Catholic Church.
- This time is a time of penance and self-denial as well
as a time to go the extra mile. It is a time of preparation
for and renewal of baptism.
 Lenten Season
- Lent is a time to rediscover the meaning of life and
prioritise what is important in how we live our lives.

- We try to simplify our lives (fasting), take time out to

reflect and pray (prayer), and listen and respond to those in
need (almsgiving).
 Ash Wednesday
- The mark of ashes, a symbol of repentance, is given to
Christians to indicate the start of the penitential season of
Lent.
- Ashes are etched in the sign of the cross on the foreheads of
Catholic around the world on Ash Wednesday, symbolizing
the beginning of the 40 days of fasting and penance in
preparation for Easter.
 Paschal Triduum
- The Paschal Triduum or the Great Three Days
capture the story of our life and situate it in the
greater story of Jesus.
- It occurs during Holy Week, beginning on the
evening of Holy Thursday with the Mass of the
Lord’s Supper and concludes with the Easter
Vigil on Saturday evening.
 Paschal Triduum
- It ritualizes generous self giving (washing of the feet);
to the point of death (the triumph of the Cross over
human selfishness); through to a new way of being
(resurrection, to be light for the world).

- This is the time when we initiate new members and

publicly renew our own commitment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNsApFqFoyU
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Good Friday
- The Good Friday church
ceremony is marked by a ritual
unveiling of the main cross near
the altar.
- This is the day that marks the
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- The Catholic worship service
does not include Holy Mass on
this day.
Black Saturday
- According to a most ancient tradition, this night is
"one of vigil for the Lord“
- The Vigil celebrated during it, to commemorate that
holy night when the Lord rose from the dead, is
regarded as the "mother of all holy vigils".
- For in that night the Church keeps vigil, waiting for
the resurrection of the Lord, and celebrates the
sacraments of Christian initiation.
What are we working on?

Hospitality Refuge Food

Mercury is the closest Venus has a beautiful Despite being red, Mars is
planet to the Sun and the name and is the second actually a cold place. It’s
smallest of them all planet from the Sun full of iron oxide dust
 04
Easter
a very special time to
celebrate with Jesus.
 Easter Season
• The word "Easter" comes from Old English, meaning
simply the "East." The sun which rises in the East, bringing
light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the
rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world.
The Paschal Candle used during the Easter Vigil is a central
symbol of this divine light, which is Christ. It is kept near
the ambo throughout Easter Time and lit for all liturgical
celebrations.
 Easter Season
• The Easter Season is fifty days, not forty days, like Lent,
or four weeks or slightly less, like Advent.
- The Easter Season extends from Easter Sunday to
Pentecost.
- It is sometimes known as the “Festival of Weeks,”
seven weeks of seven days (49 days), plus one, the
fiftieth day, Pentecost.
 Easter Season
• The Octave of Easter
- The first eight days of the Easter Season are known as the
Octave of Easter.
- Easter is the greatest Christian feast, so great, in fact, that it
cannot be celebrated adequately on a single one day.
- All eight days from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of
Easter are considered solemnities, the Church’s highest
ranking feast, and each day is celebrated with festivity and joy.
 Easter Season
• The liturgical color for the Easter Season is
white. Gold is not a liturgical color, but it
may be used to accent the white. Together,
they are symbols of joy and glory, as well as
the Resurrection.
05
Pentecost
The birth of the Church.
 Pentecost
• It commemorates the descent of the Holy
Spirit on the Apostles and
other disciples following the Crucifixion,
Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus
Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it
marks the beginning of the Christian church’s
mission to the world.
 Pentecost
• The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was
primarily a thanksgiving for the firstfruits of
the wheat harvest, but it was later associated
with a remembrance of the Law given by God
to Moses on Mount Sinai.
 Pentecost
• The church’s transformation of the Jewish
feast to a Christian festival was thus related to
the belief that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the
followers of Jesus was the firstfruits of a
new dispensation that fulfilled and succeeded
the old dispensation of the Law.
 Pentecost
• It commemorates the descent of the Holy
Spirit on the Apostles and
other disciples following the Crucifixion,
Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus
Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it
marks the beginning of the Christian church’s
mission to the world.
 05
Ordinary Time
 Ordinary Time
• - The time between Christmas and Lent
and between Easter and Advent is called
ordinary time.
- The word ordinary comes from the
word ordinal or counting of time.
 Ordinary Time
• - It is a long period of time a time when we get
on with the daily business of living our faith.
- The readings of Ordinary Time focus on
Jesus’ ministry.
- The colour of Ordinary Time is green. Green
is the colour of growth.
FEAST DAYS
Within the These relate to the lives and
organisation of the death of the saints, the
events in the life of Jesus
Liturgical year the and his mother Mary. They
church celebrates are organised according to
dates and the major
and commemorates festivals of the church
many special days throughout the year
known as feast days.
Liturgical
Year
Catholic Calendar
RE 8: THE LITURGICAL YEAR,
LITURGIES, AND PARA-LITURGIES