THE LITURGICAL YEAR
CHRIST SANCTIFIES THE CYCLE OF TIME
Today we continue our journey through Sacrosanctum Concilium with Day Seven: “The Liturgical Year: Christ Sanctifies the Cycle of Time.”
Today’s reading invites us to see the liturgical year as far more than a religious calendar. Through the sacred seasons, the Church unfolds the whole mystery of Christ – from His Incarnation and Nativity to His Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, the sending of the Holy Ghost, and the expectation of His return in glory.
At the center of this sacred cycle stands the Paschal Mystery. Easter is the most solemn feast of the year, and every Sunday is a weekly celebration of the Resurrection. The Lord’s Day is not merely the end of the workweek or a convenient time to fulfill an obligation. It is the original Christian feast – a day of worship, thanksgiving, joy, rest, family, and mercy.
The Council also reminds us that the mysteries celebrated throughout the year are not simply distant events recalled from the past. Through the Church’s worship, their saving riches are opened to the faithful so that we may receive their grace and be transformed by them. Advent teaches us to wait. Christmas calls us to adore. Lent summons us to conversion. Holy Week asks us to remain with Christ beneath the Cross. Easter calls us to rise with Him into new life.
Day Seven also considers the Council’s reform of the liturgical calendar. The seasons were to retain their proper character; the mysteries of the Lord were to receive due priority. Lent’s baptismal and penitential meaning was to be restored, and the Paschal fast was to be kept sacred. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints remain inseparably united to this Christ-centered cycle, revealing what His redeeming grace can accomplish in human lives.
This reading asks us to examine which calendar truly forms us. Is our time governed primarily by commerce, entertainment, work, and worldly events – or by the mysteries of Christ? Do our Sundays, fasts, feasts, homes, prayers, and family customs show that our time belongs to Him?
Please join us for Day Seven as we read the Council in continuity with Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the perennial teachings of the Catholic Church.
May Christ sanctify our days, our seasons, and the whole course of our lives. May we learn to wait when the Church waits, fast when she fasts, rejoice when she rejoices, and allow every year to draw us more deeply into the mysteries of our redemption.
