Your Question: Can you explain the church calendar year? What is "ordinary time"?
The Church calendar year, or Liturgical Calendar, outlines the rhythm of our Catholic life. The Church year runs from the first Sunday of Advent (at the beginning of December) to the Feast of Christ the King (end of November). We celebrate six main periods of time throughout the year: Advent, Christmastime, Ordinary Time, Lent, Triduum, and Easter (and then back to ordinary time). We recognize Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum, and Easter as seasons of time during which we focus on specific aspects of the life of Christ. The seasons of Advent and Lent are periods of expectation for the Savior—for His birth during Advent, and for His Passion and Resurrection during Lent. Christmas and Easter are times of celebrating Christ’s coming into the world, in His birth at Christmas, and in His resurrection at Easter.
The Church calendar is also comprised of days devoted to specific saints or events in salvation history, such as the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1, or the feast of St. Patrick, which we will celebrate March 17. There are also special days in the Church calendar called Holy Days of Obligation, days other than Sundays when Catholics are obliged to go to Mass because they are days in which we celebrate people or events that are particularly important for us. These days are like the anniversaries and birthdays that we celebrate in our own families—we are all called together so the whole family enjoys the presence of everyone else as we remember something important.
The six Holy Days of Obligation are as follows: December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ; January 1, the solemnity of Mary Mother of God; Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension; August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; November 1, the solemnity of All Saints.
Another component of the church calendar is the cycle of readings. As Latin rite Catholics, we follow the same set of readings as all other Latin rite Catholics in the world (Latin rite simply means that we follow the same traditions concerning the celebrations of Mass and the sacraments. You’d definitely know if you were at a Catholic Church that was a different rite, because you wouldn’t be familiar with what to do!). So, if I went to Spain today, the readings would be the same as they are at the daily Mass at Three Holy Women Catholic Parish in Milwaukee. Each day of the year has an established set of readings. The weekday readings are set in a two year cycle, either year I (odd numbered years) or II (even numbered years), and the readings for Sundays go on a three year cycle, either A, B, or C. If you went to Mass every day for three years, you’d hear pretty much the whole Bible proclaimed!
What is “ordinary time”? Ordinary time is called “ordered time,” and is the time of year where we continue to meditate on the life and miracles of Jesus in light of the Resurrection. It is the largest church season of the year, and numbers 33 or 34 weeks. As a message of hope and growth, the color of vestments (the garments the priest wears) and the altar cloths are usually green. So, we can think of Ordinary time as a time of continued growth and new life in our Christian lives. The readings relate to us events from the life and teaching of Jesus, rather than meditating on a specific aspect of Christ’s life. We live our “ordinary time” in the Resurrected Lord, continuing to grow in His love and light.
For a list of saints days in the Catholic Church, go to:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/f_day/mar.php
For the daily readings of the Church, go to:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/
The Church calendar is also comprised of days devoted to specific saints or events in salvation history, such as the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1, or the feast of St. Patrick, which we will celebrate March 17. There are also special days in the Church calendar called Holy Days of Obligation, days other than Sundays when Catholics are obliged to go to Mass because they are days in which we celebrate people or events that are particularly important for us. These days are like the anniversaries and birthdays that we celebrate in our own families—we are all called together so the whole family enjoys the presence of everyone else as we remember something important.
The six Holy Days of Obligation are as follows: December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ; January 1, the solemnity of Mary Mother of God; Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension; August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; November 1, the solemnity of All Saints.
Another component of the church calendar is the cycle of readings. As Latin rite Catholics, we follow the same set of readings as all other Latin rite Catholics in the world (Latin rite simply means that we follow the same traditions concerning the celebrations of Mass and the sacraments. You’d definitely know if you were at a Catholic Church that was a different rite, because you wouldn’t be familiar with what to do!). So, if I went to Spain today, the readings would be the same as they are at the daily Mass at Three Holy Women Catholic Parish in Milwaukee. Each day of the year has an established set of readings. The weekday readings are set in a two year cycle, either year I (odd numbered years) or II (even numbered years), and the readings for Sundays go on a three year cycle, either A, B, or C. If you went to Mass every day for three years, you’d hear pretty much the whole Bible proclaimed!
What is “ordinary time”? Ordinary time is called “ordered time,” and is the time of year where we continue to meditate on the life and miracles of Jesus in light of the Resurrection. It is the largest church season of the year, and numbers 33 or 34 weeks. As a message of hope and growth, the color of vestments (the garments the priest wears) and the altar cloths are usually green. So, we can think of Ordinary time as a time of continued growth and new life in our Christian lives. The readings relate to us events from the life and teaching of Jesus, rather than meditating on a specific aspect of Christ’s life. We live our “ordinary time” in the Resurrected Lord, continuing to grow in His love and light.
For a list of saints days in the Catholic Church, go to:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/f_day/mar.php
For the daily readings of the Church, go to:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/
posted by staff | 3:26 PM
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