by Rev. Msgr. Russell A. Duker from Christ-bearers – Meditations for the Pre-Christmas Fast, Christmas, and Theophany The oldest Christian feast is the Resurrection of our Lord or Easter. This Holy Day includes a whole cycle of feasts such as the Ascension and Pentecost. It is the great feast of our redemption and sanctification. Later Holy […]
Search Results for: christmas
What is the Liturgical Year?
In a pastoral letter issued at the close of the Second Vatican Council (1965), our Bishops, together with Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, defined the Liturgical Year as: “A liturgical cycle of the universal or some particular Church, that consists of Sundays, weekdays, the feasts of our Lord, the Mother of God, the saints and the periods of fasting and forbidden times.”
We call the Liturgical Year the Ecclesiastical or Church Year, because it contains the Church Calendar, which in some respects is similar to and in others differs from the civil calendar. In the Eastern Church the Church Year differs from the civil calendar in that it does not begin the New Year with the first of January as does the civil year, but begins it with the first day of September, which is called the Beginning of the Indiction. This means that the whole cycle of our Church Year begins with the first of September and ends with the thirty first of the following August.
Fasting with the Apostles
“After the long Feast of Pentecost, fasting is especially necessary to purify our thoughts and render us worthy to receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit … Therefore, the salutary custom was established of fasting after the joyful days during which we celebrated the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, and the coming of the Holy Spirit” (from a sermon of Pope St. Leo the Great, +461).
Tidings of Great Joy (Luke 2: 10)
We are celebrating the Feast of the Birth, the Nativity of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, one of the greatest and most loved feasts of all Christianity. Yet, many people say they have a vague feeling of emptiness at Christmas. Even though they are doing things that they have looked forward to all year […]
Discover the Beauty of the Liturgical Year!
We’re used to marking our lives by the events during the year that give shape to our existence and of those around us. A birthday. An anniversary. A graduation. A death. Each of these celebrations helps us mark significant moments in time. We record many of these meaningful moments in pictures, videos, greeting cards, letters […]