[00:00:01] Hello! My name is Sally Moriarty-Flask; welcome to From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. In this special episode, I will explain the Liturgical Year, the meaning of each season in the Liturgical Year, and the colors associated with them, as well as spend a bit of time explaining the Cycles of Scripture that I use as the basis for this podcast. As always, let's begin in prayer.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:00:26] Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of the Church, for the times and seasons in the Liturgical Year that help us come to know you and to understand your plan for us. Help us to appreciate every season as it comes to us and to enter fully into all that it offers. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's start to work our way through the Liturgical Year.
The first thing I want to say is that the Liturgical Year and the calendar year are NOT the same thing, as you've probably already guessed! The CALENDAR YEAR, as we all know, begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st. It's easy, it's predictable, it's familiar. Each year is then divided into four seasons (sort of) spring, summer, fall, and winter… although we have to all admit they're a bit more muddled than they were when I was a kid thanks to our changing climate.
[00:01:20] But the beginning and end of the LITURGICAL YEAR are marked by events rather than specific dates. And while the year is also divided into seasons, there are seven of them rather than four, and those are: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum (that word may be unfamiliar to you, but I'll explain it more when we get there), Easter, and Ordinary Time. If you've been counting along on your fingers as I went along, you know that I just named six seasons, not seven. But that's because Ordinary Time is actually divided into two parts, a shorter one and a longer one, and splitting Ordinary Time gets us to seven. The event that begins the Liturgical Year is the first Sunday of Advent, and the event that brings the year to an end is the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe… and you'll find that explained in episode 20.
The first season of the Liturgical Year is ADVENT, which can begin as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. Regardless of the exact date, the first Sunday of Advent is always four Sundays before Christmas Day, and the season ends with Christmas. The liturgical color for the Season is purple… mostly. The exception to that may be on the Third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, when rose can be used in place of purple. Gaudete is a Latin word meaning rejoice, and one of the Mass prayers for that day is from Saint Paul's Letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always” which is where the name comes from.
[00:02:48] Advent is a time of preparation as we wait expectantly to celebrate the birth of the Savior on Christmas… but that waiting is not dull or boring. If we enter into the season as we ought to, it is full of quiet beauty and significance. The Advent wreath… you know, the evergreen wreath with candles on it… helps us mark the progress of the season as we light a new candle each week. And the Advent Scriptures help us develop a deeper appreciation for several important people: prophets of promise like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah, as well as pivotal figures like John the Baptist, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Saint Joseph, his earthly father and protector. Each Sunday of Advent has its own unique message in the Scriptures. The FIRST SUNDAY always speaks to us of Jesus’ Second Coming at the end of time; the SECOND and THIRD SUNDAYS both feature John the Baptist - one of those pivotal figures I just mentioned - but each Sunday in its own unique way… the SECOND SUNDAY features John the Baptist's preaching about the importance of repentance, and the THIRD SUNDAY always shows how he points to the person of Christ. And on the FOURTH SUNDAY in our Scriptures, we look forward in anticipation to the first coming of Jesus at his birth in the Nativity, as we observe those events that lead up to his birth through the eyes of either Mary or Joseph.
[00:04:24] That brings us to the season of CHRISTMAS. Now, remember I said that the Catholic Church marks the Liturgical Year - and its season - with events rather than dates? Well, Christmas (the Christmas season) is the exception to that because Christmas always falls on December 25th. So, the Christmas season begins with the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord on December 25 and ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord about 20 days later. The liturgical color of the Christmas season is gold or white, and those two colors are essentially interchangeable. Gold may be preferred for major feasts and white for lesser feasts and weekday Masses. The first Mass of the Christmas season is a Vigil Mass of the Nativity, which takes place on the evening of December 24, followed by Nativity Masses designated by the various times they are celebrated. There's one that's called the Mass at night, one called Mass at Dawn, and one called Mass During the Day. Each of those Masses have their own Scripture readings and prayers. An individual parish may choose to celebrate all of the Masses, or just some of them, depending on what works best for their congregation.
Chronologically, our next season would be that shorter portion of Ordinary Time, but I'm going to hold off and explain all of Ordinary Time at once.
So, right now, we're going to go straight to LENT - one of the more confusing seasons for those who are not Catholic… and sometimes even for those who are. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, ends on Wednesday of Holy Week, and lasts approximately 46 days (yes, 46, not 40 - and no, I'm not going to explain all of that right now… this is supposed to be a SHORT talk on the Liturgical Year).
[00:05:59] Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself, wait, doesn't Lent end on Easter? Nope! There's a whole other season that falls between Lent and Easter… be patient, we'll get there. The liturgical color of Lent, like Advent, is mostly purple. And just as rose can be used for Gaudete Sunday in Advent, rose can also be used for one of the Sundays of Lent, in this case, the Fourth Sunday to be exact, which is called Laetare Sunday. Laetare is another Latin word meaning rejoice. And the name - again - comes from one of those Mass prayers, which is based this time on Isaiah 66: “Rejoice, Jerusalem.” The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday, and we call it that because we are marked with ashes to remind us of our own mortality. And Lent is a penitential season that invites us into a time of introspection, repentance, purification, and renewal. It is a season during which we fast, pray, and give alms (which are gifts of money or food to the poor). And again, I'm sure you're asking yourself, wait, why didn't I say we give something up? Well, I did… I just used a different word - I said fast. We fast from different things in different ways. One way we fast is by giving up meat on Fridays (Catholics used to be called fish eaters for that very reason). Another way we fast is by giving up things we enjoy - precisely because we enjoy them! Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, not because he didn't love the world, but to purify himself before he began his public ministry. And his actions serve as a model of fasting for us. We aren't called to go out into the wilderness, but we are called to fast from something important to us. So, that's why Catholics give up something during Lent. And no… that does not mean you can give up doing homework, or doing your taxes, or doing anything else that may fall during that time… if it's something that you hate, that doesn't really count. You have to give up something that you love… that you like, that you appreciate, not something that you detest. And no, you also cannot give up broccoli - unless you absolutely love broccoli. Individuals are not the only ones who fast. The entire Church fasts from the Alleluia… we don't sing Alleluia during Lent… and from the Gloria. We fast from both of those things at our Lenten Masses. And we are also encouraged to use only the simplest of music and instrumentation.
[00:08:29] Churches will have minimal decoration during that time, but typically a Cross - that can be approached and venerated by the faithful - will figure prominently somewhere in the church. Toward the end of Lent, we have the option to cover statues and sacred art. In other words, to fast from those sacred images, which helps us to strengthen our efforts at repentance and purification during those final days of Lent, those final days that push us to the end of the season.
And the end of the season of Lent brings me back to that strange word TRIDUUM, and it is now time to explain it, as promised! Triduum is a Latin word that means - literally means - three days. And the Sacred Paschal Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday and ends with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. And I know you've just counted that out and you're thinking, wait, that's four days… well, not exactly, because for the Triduum, the Church measures time as the Jewish people do, meaning we begin to measure a day at sunset on one day and go through sunset on the next. And we do that precisely because that is how Jesus, himself a Jew, would have marked those same days.
[00:09:46] So, sunset of Holy Thursday to sunset of Good Friday is day 1. Sunset of Good Friday to sunset of Holy Saturday is day 2, and sunset of Holy Saturday to sunset of Easter Sunday is day 3. Hopefully that now makes a bit more sense!
The liturgical color of Triduum is - technically - gold or white, but Good Friday falls in the midst of that, and the liturgical color of Good Friday is red. The first liturgy of the Triduum is the MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER on the evening of Holy Thursday, which commemorates the final Passover meal Jesus ate with his disciples and the institution of the priesthood. During that Mass, John's Gospel account of Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples is read, and the clergy then wash the feet of some of their parishioners as a model of service in action… the very heart of their priesthood! The Mass of the Lord's Supper doesn't actually come to an end as other Catholic Masses do, with a Final Blessing and a Dismissal. Rather, the faithful are encouraged to continue to watch and pray throughout the night. The next major service of the Triduum is on GOOD FRIDAY afternoon, and it is not a Mass! It is actually classified as a Communion service. That service has no Introductory Rite and no formal welcome. It is, in truth, a continuation of the previous evening's Mass and should begin at 3 pm… the time of Jesus’ Crucifixion. It is a serious and sober service when the entire account of the Passion of Jesus from John's Gospel is proclaimed. The faithful are also invited forward to reverence the Cross and to receive Holy Communion that was consecrated the evening before.
[00:11:37] The Good Friday service, like the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, has no Final Blessing or Dismissal. But the faithful are again encouraged to watch and pray for the remainder of the day and through the night.
[00:11:50] The Church does not celebrate any Mass on Holy Saturday, at least not as time is marked according to the Jewish tradition. One thing I want to mention before I go any farther though, is that there are many other options for prayer that may be offered by any parish during that time. And that's up to each individual parish of how they want to do it. They can offer Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, Stations of the Cross. They can - and typically do - offer a number of times for individual Confession (or Reconciliation as the Sacrament is called). So, all of those things can also take place within that Triduum timeframe. I just said the Church doesn't celebrate Mass on Holy Saturday - as we mark time in the Jewish tradition. Instead, the Church celebrates the GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER at a time set by each local diocese to begin after sundown… making it the first official celebration of Christ's Resurrection! The Easter Vigil begins in the dark with the blessing of a new Paschal candle symbolizing the Light of the Risen Christ entering the world. It can and should be dramatic! Christ's Resurrection was witnessed by no one… it happened with no human fanfare… but it is the single greatest event in human history! To celebrate that unwitnessed event, we mark that by lighting brand-new Paschal candle in the dark from the brand-new Easter fire. And again, it should be dramatic! It should be beautiful! The Great Vigil of Easter has been described as an “hours-long, candle-lit, incense-infused, sacrament-packed celebration that is so, so worth being at no matter how long it takes.” (I think that's such a fun quote; that's from America Magazine, by the way.) After the conclusion of the Easter Vigil, the Church is left open in case people want to pray. But then EASTER DAY Masses are celebrated on Sunday, and the Triduum then comes to a close with Evening Prayer (which can also be called Vespers) on the evening of Easter Sunday.
[00:14:03] If you have never attended Triduum Liturgies, I would most sincerely invite you to do so at least once. They are the most moving and beautiful liturgies of the entire year, and - as America Magazine said - they're worth it… no matter how long it takes!
The evening of Easter Sunday marks the beginning of the EASTER SEASON, those 50 joyful days where we continue to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection and which conclude with the Solemnity of Pentecost. Easter itself is celebrated as an Octave… meaning that all eight days have equal importance and are celebrated with great festivity. The liturgical colors of the Easter season are gold or white - mostly - although the liturgical color for the Solemnity of Pentecost is actually red. And like Christmas, gold may be reserved for the Octave of Easter and the Solemnity of the Ascension, and white used for lesser feasts and daily Masses.
[00:14:56] That leads us to our final season of ORDINARY TIME. Ordinary Time, as I mentioned before, is observed in two distinct parts… the first and shorter segment, lasting anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks, is observed between the end of the Christmas season and the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday; the second and longer segment, lasting approximately 6 months, takes place between the end of the Easter season and the solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe… which, as I mentioned before, brings our Liturgical Year to a close.
If you look up why the season is called Ordinary Time, the most common answer you will encounter is that it is because the weeks are numbered using ordinal numbers - and, if you remember your elementary school definition of ordinal numbers, that means they have to do with position or order: first, second, third, fourth, and so on. I have always objected to that simplistic definition, since ALL of the weeks of EVERY liturgical season are numbered with ordinal numbers. I think there's more to it than that… much more! Ordinary Time is not ordinary simply because it is numbered or ordered… it is not ordinary because it is boring or uninteresting! Ordinary Time is EXTRAORDINARY because it reminds us that every week, every day, every moment belongs to God, and not one second of our life passes without his awareness of it!
The liturgical color of Ordinary Time is green, also, for a good reason, because green represents growth. Much like the summer months are devoted to the greening of the earth… the beginning of new life among insects, birds, and animals… the growth of grass and trees, flowers and bushes, fruits and vegetables… Ordinary Time invites us to begin anew to know Jesus, to grow in our knowledge and love of him, to see and understand his life, his mission, and his love for us.
[00:16:50] Ordinary Time guides us through the bulk of Jesus’ preaching, teaching, and miracles in the Scriptures because that is where we grow in our faith and learn about ourselves, about each other, and about God.
Now that we, hopefully, have a handle on the Liturgical Year, let's take a look at the Cycles of Scripture. If you've been listening to my podcast for the last few months, you've heard me use the word LECTIONARY a number of times. So, I want to explain how Lectionary relates to the Cycles of Scripture. Lectionaries are books filled with passages from the Bible that have been selected and assembled by the Church to present - in an organized fashion - the history of salvation from the creation of the world through the life of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the Age of the Church. These books are used to proclaim Sacred Scripture at every Catholic Mass. And there are two sets of Lectionaries: one set that contains the Sunday readings and another set that contains the daily Mass readings.
Now, the Bible and the Lectionary are NOT the same thing. Remember, I just said, that the Lectionary contains passages from the Bible. While everything in the Lectionary IS in the Bible, not all of the Bible is found in the Lectionary. However, after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the church declared that the treasury of Sacred Scripture should be opened up more lavishly for the faithful, and as a result, both the Sunday and daily Lectionaries were revised to include a much greater portion of the Bible. In fact, within a three-year span of time, the Church has included excerpts from every book in both the Old and the New Testament across the totality of the Sunday and daily Mass lectionaries. That's a pretty amazing statement to make! We hear - over the course of three years - from every single book of the Bible, no matter how short. Even the book of Philemon, which is the shortest book in the Bible. Even Job, which is one of the more difficult to understand. Every single book in the Bible we hear from across three years. The Scriptures, proclaimed at Sunday Masses and Solemnities, are divided into three cycles that are ever so creatively named by the Church as Cycle A, B, and C. Each yearly cycle primarily features one of the Synoptic Gospels: so, Cycle A features the Gospel of Matthew, B features Mark, and C features Luke. The Church goes through the Cycles in order… A to B to C, then goes back and repeats that pattern over and over again. The Gospel of John is used at various times throughout all three Sunday cycles whenever it is most appropriate.
[00:19:19] There is an entirely different set of Scriptures - well, no, I shouldn't say that… not necessarily entirely different - but there's a different set of Scriptures contained in the Daily Mass Lectionary, which is divided into two cycles, Year I and Year II (again, because the Church is never anything except original when she names things). So, the other thing I want to point out - while I'm here - is that the Sunday Mass and Daily Mass lectionaries function independently of each other. And this is why I said they're not totally different. What that means is that a particular reading, or Gospel, may be proclaimed at a weekday Mass and then you may hear that exact same Scripture, or Gospel, proclaimed again on Sunday. So, while they do function independently of each other across a three-year cycle, we hear from every book of the Bible.
[00:20:04] From the time I began this podcast back in July until the Solemnity of Christ the King, we have been in Cycle B, which is why so many of our Gospels have been from the Gospel of Mark. That will change when we enter into a new cycle, Cycle C, with a new Liturgical Year where our Gospels will primarily be from Saint Luke. Because I am a Catholic and because this Bible Study is intended to prepare us to better understand and to enter more deeply into the Scriptures that we will hear at Mass on the upcoming Sunday, the Scriptures chosen by the Church - that are featured in the Lectionary - are the ones that I share with you each week.
[00:20:39] I hope that this special episode has helped explain for you, and helped you understand… whether you are Catholic or of another faith tradition… the different seasons of the Liturgical Year and the Cycles of Scripture that fit into those years just a little bit. As I said before, we will begin a new Liturgical Year when we go to the First Sunday of Advent… and as we enter into that new Liturgical Year, we will also enter a new cycle of Scripture, Cycle C, meaning that our Gospels will primarily be from Saint Luke.
[00:21:14] I hope you've enjoyed this special episode and I hope that you continue to join me as we continue to break open the Scriptures throughout this new Liturgical Year.
[00:21:23] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, please send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for listening and until next we meet, may God shower His blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God bless.
