Helping Catholics know & love the Lord and his Church
Advertisement

Category: Church Seasons and Feasts

8 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

Understanding the Church Calendar

8 min read
30592 views
Comments Off on Understanding the Church Calendar
8 min read

Except for such widely known celebrations as Easter, Christmas and Pentecost, most lay Catholics lump all Church celebrations under the term feast or feast days. While the terminology is not…

Except for such widely known celebrations as Easter, Christmas and Pentecost, most lay Catholics lump all Church celebrations under the term feast or feast days.

While the terminology is not necessarily incorrect, feasts are only one of the three categories of such celebrations in the Church year; the other two are solemnities and memorials. But what’s the difference? The Church has always provided the faithful people of God with externally expressed devotions, festivals and celebrations through which they may pay homage to the Creator. These holy activities are not merely random events, but follow a seasonal, regulated schedule established by the Church’s liturgical calendar. The day-to-day events of the annual Church year are primarily catalogued as a solemnity, a feast or a memorial.

In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine ended the Roman persecution of all religious factions and claimed Christianity to be the state religion of the Roman Empire. As the Church and Christian faith expanded, the number of religious celebrations subsequently increased. Unfortunately, for centuries there was no centralized control over the observance of the many celebrations. Every diocese had its own calendar, therefore rituals differed, celebrations honoring the mysteries of sacred Scriptures competed with honoring a saint, feast days overlapped, and almost every Sunday liturgy was pre-empted by a special occasion. This all led to confusion and abuses that continued until the reforms of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and the eventual development of a universal calendar.

A churchwide calendar prompted the need to effectively organize the numerous holidays in a manner applicable to every diocese. A most challenging aspect of this effort was the standardization of the rituals used during the different ceremonies and, further, the sorting out and assigning of common dates or time frames to each event. A well-organized liturgical calendar did not happen overnight, but has evolved over the past 450 years. While the methods of categorizing the various festivals have varied, the Church has been consistent in her effort to arrange the events according to importance. The birth of Jesus is considered more important than the birth of John the Baptist; the birth of the Baptist more important than the dedication of St. John Lateran church; the life of the Blessed Mother outranks that of St. Francis of Assisi; and so on. The hierarchal process used as recently as the 20th century rank, or order, Church celebrations by calling them doubles of the first class, doubles of the second class, greater doubles, lesser doubles, simples and commemorations. In 1962, they were called first class, second class, third class and commemorations. The Second Vatican Council simplified the classifications to solemnities, feasts and memorials.

Solemnities

A solemnity holds the highest rank among Church celebrations and there are 24 days so marked on the annual liturgical calendar. It is a day that recalls and glorifies an important event in the life of Jesus and the most significant mysteries of the Catholic Christian faith: Christmas, Epiphany, Easter (the Easter Octaves including Divine Mercy Sunday), Pentecost, Holy Trinity, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart, Christ the King. So, too, honored as a solemnity are the days associated with the Blessed Mother: the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Annunciation and Mary, Mother of God. Some saints are acknowledged with a solemnity: St. Joseph, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul and All Saints Day.

In addition to every Sunday, the Catholic Church prescribes holy days of obligation, which include certain solemnities. In the United States there are six holy days of obligation: Mary, Mother of God, the Ascension, the Assumption, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception and Christmas. While all holy days of obligation are solemnities, not all solemnities are holy days of obligation. For example, the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a solemnity but not a holy day of obligation. The same is true of the solemnity of St. Joseph and the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Some solemnities are always celebrated on the same calendar date and are known as “fixed” on the liturgical calendar — for example, Dec. 25 is always the date of Christmas, Nov. 1 is the date of All Saints and the Immaculate Conception is always on Dec. 8. Other solemnities are “moveable” — that is, their dates change or move based on the date of Easter. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter, Holy Trinity is the first Sunday after Pentecost, Corpus Christi is the second Sunday after Pentecost, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the first Friday after Corpus Christi and so on.

So, just what distinguishes a solemnity? The celebration begins with evening prayers on the day before and some, if a holy day of obligation, have a vigil Mass. If the solemnity falls on a weekday, the daily Mass looks much like a Sunday liturgy, including three readings, the Gloria and the Creed. All the prayers of the Mass reflect on the event or person being celebrated. These added liturgical elements help to embellish the special attention given the event or person.

Feasts

Celebrations identified on the Church calendar as a feast typically honor a special saint, such as one of the apostles. Other saints assigned a specific feast day include Sts. Simon and Jude, St. Stephen, the Holy Angels. Important events in Christian history are likewise identified as feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the Conversion of St. Paul, the Transfiguration, the Visitation, the Presentation of the Lord, the Holy Family, the Birth of Mary, the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the Holy Innocents, the Triumph of the Holy Cross, and the Chair of Peter. A feast that falls on a weekday is not preceded with a vigil Mass, the Creed is not obligatory and most feasts are fixed dates on the calendar.

Memorials

The third category of celebrations and those most representative of what we call “feast days” are properly known as memorials. Memorials are identified as either obligatory, those that must be celebrated universally on an assigned day, or optional, meaning it is up to the celebrant as to whether that particular saint is celebrated. All memorials are fixed on the annual calendar. Memorials most often honor and focus us on the pious life of a saint. If Scripture mentions the particular saint, then the Mass readings on that day are taken from the applicable Scripture, such as, on the obligatory memorial of St. Martha the readings are from John (chapter 11) or Luke (chapter 10). If the saint is not mentioned in Scripture, then the readings are the ordinary, or normal, readings assigned for that day.

Optional memorials often identify a saint special or familiar to a particular location or religious order, but are often those not necessarily well known throughout the worldwide Church. For example, Sept. 19 is the optional memorial to St. Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, Italy. While the people of Naples and the surrounding area may well remember and acknowledge Januarius, a parish in another part of the world may not. The local parish priest normally decides about recognizing optional memorials.

As every country honors her founding fathers, her national heroes, independence day, and other national events, so does the Church celebrate the great sacred mysteries — the life of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, the saints and the martyrs who died for the faith. The Church classifies each celebration according to its importance and ranks them on the annual liturgical calendar as a solemnity, a feast or a memorial.

D.D. Emmons writes from Mount Joy, Pa. 

Ferial Days

If we look carefully at the Church liturgical calendar, there are some days that have no celebration assigned; no solemnity, no feast, no memorial. Such days are known as a “ferial” days, from a Latin word meaning free. In ancient Rome the term referred to a holiday, especially for slaves.

On the liturgical calendar, a ferial day is always on a weekday, Monday through Friday, and occurs during Ordinary Time. On that day the priest has the option of celebrating the previous Sunday Mass, a votive Mass or a Mass acknowledging any saint he desires. The celebrant may select the readings or use those appointed in the Lectionary for that day.

Sunday

The documents of the Second Vatican Council reflect on the importance of Sunday: “The Lord’s Day is the original feast day.… Other celebrations, unless they be truly of greatest importance shall not take precedence over the Sunday which is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 106).

Continue Reading
Comments Off on Understanding the Church Calendar
5 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

Two things to know about Christ’s ascension into heaven

5 min read
31634 views
Comments Off on Two things to know about Christ’s ascension into heaven
5 min read

The ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven is a mystery rooted in history and spoken of in Scripture, like the Resurrection. It is presented both at the end of…

The ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven is a mystery rooted in history and spoken of in Scripture, like the Resurrection. It is presented both at the end of Matthew’s Gospel and at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. It is also alluded to in John’s Gospel, when the risen Jesus encounters Mary Magdalene and says, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (Jn 20:17).

The Ascension is the completion of the Easter mysteries of Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection, and it is the final step before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand” (No. 659).

Yet perhaps we feel somewhat like the Apostles who witnessed the Ascension, standing there, looking up, wondering what just happened. Why did Jesus go? Where did he go? The angels’ response to them is apropos for us, too: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

There are two things to remember about this mystery. First, in a very real way, Jesus’ ascension into heaven is the goal for each one of us. He goes before us, and we are to follow Him there. In the Ascension, the domain of God’s glory is opened to us, and Jesus, in His glorified humanity, takes His rightful place at God’s right hand. It is a privilege for all of us that one of our own, a man like us in all things but sin, has been so glorified. Not only that, he is calling us and interceding for us always so that we will one day join him. As the Catechism states: “Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the ‘Father’s house,’ to God’s life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us” (No. 661).

The second thing to remember about this mystery is that Jesus will come back. When that day comes, we should be ready. He has asked us to be his faithful disciples, living in a vital friendship with him. This is not magic, however. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit, whom each of us receives in baptism and confirmation. It also takes a lived relationship with God in prayer. Finally, Jesus expects us to be open, available and ready to cooperate with him in the mission he calls us to.

The last thing Jesus said to the Apostles was, “But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In Matthew’s Gospel, the last injunction is similar: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (28:19-20). If we live out that mission from Christ, and truly make disciples of all nations, then his presence is with us despite his bodily absence. First and foremost, Jesus is with us in the Eucharist and in the liturgy of the Church. Jesusalso is present spiritually when we pray in his name, as he said: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).

Jesus’ work on earth is now complete, but the task of bearing witness to Him and making disciples is never done, not until he returns at the end of time. That is the task the Apostles began to do, starting with prayer in the upper room as they awaited the promised Holy Spirit. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was there with them. Clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles and disciples of Jesus began to preach and teach about him to Jews and to Gentiles. They began to do what the Lord Jesus asked them to do: bear witness and make disciples. That task is not just theirs; it belongs to all of us.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, R.S.M., is Director of Christian Formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

Continue Reading
Comments Off on Two things to know about Christ’s ascension into heaven
5 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

Embracing Holy Days

5 min read
10524 views
Comments Off on Embracing Holy Days
5 min read

Catholics often think of holy days primarily in terms of obligation and imposition. No doubt we’re obliged to observe them — but shouldn’t we see them first as graced times…

Catholics often think of holy days primarily in terms of obligation and imposition. No doubt we’re obliged to observe them — but shouldn’t we see them first as graced times of opportunity to mark a special mystery of our faith?

Part of the problem may be that we fail to understand their significance. In fact, this seems to be a perennial concern among Catholics. As early as the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom complained about the celebration of holy days in Constantinople, the city where he served as patriarch (archbishop).

This Father and Doctor of the ancient Church commented in a homily: “Many people celebrate the holy days and know their names; but of their history, meaning and origin they know nothing.”

St. John’s comment invites us today to seek a deeper appreciation of the “history, meaning and origin of holy days” we observe so that we’ll be better able to celebrate, renew and enrich our faith.

A Definition

What exactly is a holy day of obligation? Put simply, a holy day is an important feast of Our Lord, Our Lady or the saints that Catholics are morally obliged to observe by participating in the celebration of the Eucharist and abstaining from unnecessary servile work.

These days have been made solemnities, much like a Sunday in terms of festivity and observance, because of their significance for the Catholic faith. In coming together as a community of faith for the celebration of the Eucharist, we declare the importance of the feast in the life of the Church. For this reason parishes are urged to celebrate holy days with all their resources as they do on Sundays.

According to the Code of Canon Law, in addition to attending Mass on holy days, Catholics “are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body” (Canon 1247).

Variations in Observance

Many Catholics are unaware that not everyone in the universal Church celebrates the same set of holy days. Current canon law calls for 10 of them: “the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, St. Joseph, St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles, and All Saints” (Canon 1246).

However, “with the prior approval of the Apostolic See . . . the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday” (Canon 1246). Therefore, the particular array of days observed varies from country to country.

Catholics in Ireland, for example, observe St. Patrick’s Day as a holy day of obligation; Mexican Catholics observe Our Lady of Guadalupe. German Catholics observe Easter Monday, Pentecost Monday and “Second Christmas” (Dec. 26). Holy day observance also varies among the Eastern Catholic Churches.

In the United States, the calendar of holy days has varied considerably since colonial times.

Today, six holy days of obligation are observed here in the Roman rite: the Immaculate Conception; the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas); Mary, Mother of God; the Ascension of Our Lord; the Assumption of Mary; and All Saints.

Nevertheless, whenever Jan. 1 (Mary, Mother of God), Aug. 15 (Assumption) or Nov. 1 (All Saints) falls on a Saturday or Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.

One U.S. diocese has arranged for an exception to this calendar. In Hawaii, through an indult from the Holy See, only two holy days of obligation outside of Sundays are observed: the Immaculate Conception and Christmas.

We should note that non-Sunday holy days of obligation rank as a solemnity. So if one of them falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Sunday celebration gives way to it. However, the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Eastertime take precedence over all solemnities, which are then transferred to another day.

Opportunity to Celebrate

Why does the Church go to so much trouble to observe these special days? Because the events they commemorate are so important to the life of Christians.

Just as Easter, and indeed every Sunday, calls us to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Christ, these other festival days invite us to meditate deeply on other significant events in the life of Our Lord and Our Lady that lie at the heart of our Catholic faith.

In observing these days faithfully, we come to appreciate more fully the meaning of the birth of Christ and His ascension into heaven, and the immaculate conception of Mary and her assumption into heaven.

Other holy days commemorate additional significant truths of the faith.

The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God not only reminds us that Our Lady was greatly honored to be the mother of Our Lord. It also affirms that Jesus Christ is fully God as well as fully man.

Through the feast of All Saints, we have the chance to strengthen our communion with our elder brothers and sisters in the faith who are now in heaven and praying for us.

Still other holy days celebrate significant historical events in the life of the Church in a particular region, such as St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland or Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Some Catholics complain that observing holy days of obligation falling on weekdays may hinder them from other activities, especially their work. That complaint, however, seems hollow in most cases, since parishes typically offer holy day Masses outside of normal business hours.

Yet even if some sacrifices must be made to fulfill this responsibility, we can rest assured that a faithful observance of holy days offers rich rewards for our growth in holiness. These celebrations need not become burdensome obligations if we learn to regard them instead as dynamic opportunities to grow closer to God and to honor Him.

Continue Reading
Comments Off on Embracing Holy Days
8 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

Divine Mercy Sunday

8 min read
23483 views
Comments Off on Divine Mercy Sunday
8 min read

Since the year 2000, the universal Church has concluded the Octave of Easter by celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday. This great solemnity calls the faithful to rejoice in the merciful love…

Since the year 2000, the universal Church has concluded the Octave of Easter by celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday. This great solemnity calls the faithful to rejoice in the merciful love of God as it is most profoundly manifested in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ.

But what exactly is the Divine Mercy? Where did this devotion to the Divine Mercy begin? Is this a new feast day in the Church?

A History of Mercy

In his 1980 encyclical Dives in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy”), Pope John Paul II writes, “Believing in [God’s] love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensible dimension of love; it is as it were love’s second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in which love is revealed” (No. 7).

Salvation history is rich with evidence of this truth. From the beginning, the Covenant that the Lord established with the people of Israel reflected the nature of His love. As He gives the Ten Commandments to Moses, He promises to show “mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Ex 20:6, RSV).

Later, again to Moses, God gives this description of himself: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands” (Ex 34:6-7, RSV).

As the Old Testament narratives continue, we see the people of Israel habitually turning to God in their sin and misery as a child turns to his father, trusting in his merciful forgiveness.

King David sings of the Lord who is “merciful and gracious,” “slow to anger and abounding in mercy” and who does not deal with us according to our sins (see Psalms 103, 145). Even the prophets, who preach a message of destruction to Israel for its infidelity, speak also of the mercy that the Lord wishes to lavish upon it if only the people will return to Him (see Jer 3:12; Hos 14:3).

Although the reality of God’s great compassion is unmistakably established and confirmed in the history of the Old Testament, it is the coming of His Son that gives the world the actual incarnation of this love and mercy. Pope John Paul’s encyclical observes:

“Christ confers on the whole of the Old Testament tradition about God’s mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does he speak of it … but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense, is mercy” (No. 2).

Christ’s entire life can be seen as a testimony to the mercy of God.

At His conception, Our Lady sang her great hymn of thanksgiving: “His mercy is from age to age to those who fear Him” (Lk 1:50).

At the start of Christ’s public ministry, He proclaimed, “release to the captives” (Lk 4:18, RSV), and later, “blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Mt 5:7).

In the words of His last agony, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34). Indeed, the presence of Jesus Christ in the world reveals to us the face of God, who is the “Father of mercies” (2 Cor 1:3, RSV).

Jesus, I Trust in You

Simply speaking, then, the “Divine Mercy” is another name for the revelation of this magnificent love of God, which culminates in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Christians have long known and praised this abundant mercy. In this sense, devotion to the Divine Mercy is not new.

Less than a century ago, however, Christians were challenged by God himself to a renewed awareness and trust in His mercy, which has begun to fan the old flame of devotion into a more ardent veneration. Our Lord spoke to a young Polish nun, giving her a timeless reminder for all of humanity:

“Mankind will not have peace,” He said, “until it turns with trust to My mercy. … Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.”

Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska, born in 1905, was a cloistered nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. On Feb. 22, 1931, Jesus first appeared to Sister Faustina.

He was clothed in a white robe, with two rays of light emanating from His heart — one red and one white, representing the blood and water that came forth from His pierced side at His crucifixion. He requested that this image be painted with the signature, “Jesus, I trust in You,” and promised that even the most hardened sinners who would revere this image would be saved. Our Lord told Faustina of His great desire that the first Sunday after Easter be dedicated as the “Feast of Mercy,” and that this image of His mercy be known and venerated by the whole world.

Our Lord appeared to Sister Faustina — whom He called His “apostle of mercy” — many other times over the course of several years, each time speaking of His great mercy for all souls. At the direction of her confessor, Faustina documented all of her dialogues with Christ in what she called her “Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul” (which received ecclesiastical approval from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1979).

Within these pages we read the repeated and urgent plea of Our Lord’s love and the purpose of His conversations with Faustina: “My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls. … If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy” (Diary, p. 165).

The Feast of Mercy

Sister Faustina’s encounters with Jesus are considered private revelation — that is, a revelation outside of the deposit of faith, and one which the faithful are not obligated to believe. However, these mes-sages have been officially approved by the Church as containing nothing contrary to faith or morals.

In addition, Pope John Paul II recognized in Sister Faustina’s writings a message that was truly from Christ, and relevant to all mankind in every day and age. On April 30, 2000, the first Sunday following Easter, Pope John Paul both canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska and declared in his homily of that day his own desire that the “Second Sunday of Easter … from now on throughout the world will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’”

In conjunction with the Pope’s wishes, on May 5, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree officially establishing the Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.”

It is important to understand that this is not a new feast day in the Church. As explained in the congregation’s document, Divine Mercy Sunday gives an additional name — a new “appellation” — to the day that is already a solemnity of the liturgical year — that is, the Second Sunday of Easter. With regards to that day’s liturgy, nothing is to be changed in either the texts of the Divine Office or the Missal. In fact, the previously established liturgical readings for the day fit in perfectly with the theme of mercy. In the Gospel, the Lord imparts to the apostles His authority to bind and release the sins of men, thereby instituting the Sacrament of Penance.

The feast of Divine Mercy, then, is a continuation of the celebration of Easter; it is, as Pope John Paul once said, Christ’s “Easter gift” to the world.

“From the Heart of Christ Crucified”

The feast of Divine Mercy is not only a beautiful reminder of the love of God, but also a challenge to a deeper understanding of who He is, and who we are in relation to Him. St. Faustina recognized this truth and responded in her weakness to the power of Christ’s mercy.

At the Mass for Faustina’s canonization, Pope John Paul prayed for her intercession. We should join him in this prayer:

“Divine Mercy reaches human beings from the Heart of Christ crucified. … Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the Risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: ‘Jesus, I trust in You!’”

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Our Lord gave St. Faustina a set of prayers to invoke His mercy, called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. On standard rosary beads, pray the following prayers:

First, on the crucifix, one Our Father, Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed.

On each Our Father bead, pray: “Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins, and those of the whole world.”

On each Hail Mary bead, pray: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”

Repeat for five decades. To conclude, pray three times: “Holy God, holy mighty One, holy immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
Continue Reading
Comments Off on Divine Mercy Sunday
6 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

Why Celebrate Octaves?

6 min read
50863 views
Comments Off on Why Celebrate Octaves?
6 min read

Each year during the Christmas and Easter seasons we hear references to “Octave Days.” We know, of course, that the term octave means “eight,” but just what exactly are Octave…

Each year during the Christmas and Easter seasons we hear references to “Octave Days.” We know, of course, that the term octave means “eight,” but just what exactly are Octave Days, and why are they part of the Church’s liturgical calendar?

The Church long ago realized that we need more than just a day to contemplate the sublime mysteries celebrated in the chief feasts of our faith, mysteries such as the Virgin Birth and the empty tomb. We must have time to reflect on and experience in our hearts what God is revealing on these holy days.

As a result, centuries ago the Church began the custom of prolonging the celebration of certain major feasts, including Easter and Christmas, across eight days. The feast day itself is the first day of the octave, and the eighth day is called the Octave Day. The term octave can thus refer both to the eighth day alone and to the entire period of eight days taken as a whole.

Roots and Early History

The length of these extended celebrations is thought to have come from the Old Testament. There we find that the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) celebrated by the ancient Jews (see Lv 23:36) lasted seven days but was followed by a solemn celebration on the eighth day. Circumcision was performed on the eighth day after a son’s birth (Lv 12:3), and certain sacrifices were prescribed for the eighth day (Lv 14:10,23; 15:14,29; Nm 6:10).

The feast of the dedication of the Temple under King Solomon (see 2 Chr 7:9), as well as the Temple’s purification under Hezekiah (2 Chr 29:17), lasted for eight days. In imitation of that ancient temple’s dedication, the first recorded instance of an octave in a Christian liturgical setting was the eight days of dedication celebrations of the fourth-century basilicas at Jerusalem and Tyre, under the Emperor Constantine (d. 337).

From the fourth century on, the mention of octave celebrations in historical records increases. Certain octaves were considered holidays, when work was forbidden and courts and theaters were closed. After Easter, Pentecost and Christmas had received octaves, nearly all the solemn feasts came to receive them as well, such as All Saints, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi and the feasts of our most honored and glorious saints, including St. John the Baptist and Sts. Peter and Paul.

A Crowded Calendar

At one time there were at least 15 Church celebrations that included octave days. The liturgical calendar became quite crowded, with many celebrations overlapping. By the 16th century, Pope Pius V found it necessary to reduce the number of octaves and to develop a complex system of classification and liturgical rubrics for the many octave celebrations that still remained. Additional reforms were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under Popes Leo XIII and Pius X.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII eliminated all octaves from the Church calendar except those for Easter, Pentecost and Christmas. In 1969, the Octave of Pentecost, a celebration that for centuries had ranked second only to Easter, was also suppressed.

The Octaves Today

Today, the Octave of Christmas contains several other holy days: the feasts of the Holy Family, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, St. Thomas Becket and Pope St. Sylvester. Each of these celebrations points us in its own distinctive way to the Nativity of Our Lord, helping us to ponder the implications of the Word made flesh who came to dwell among us.

The eighth day of the octave is the beautiful Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Though this feast had been celebrated on various dates in the Church calendar over the centuries, it was finally restored to its ancient place on Jan. 1 in the Roman calendar — a fitting time to venerate the mother of the Incarnate Word and to imitate her faith as we face a new year in the civil calendar.

Unlike the Christmas Octave, the first seven days of the Easter Octave include no other commemorations or feast days; all our attention is focused on the resurrected Lord. In fact, each of the days within the Octave of Easter is itself a solemnity, a “mini-Easter.”

During the Octave Days of Easter the Mass readings tell us the beautiful Resurrection story so that we can take time to ponder the reality that Calvary was not the end. Each of us can relate to the sadness, confusion and then elation of the disciples on the Emmaus road. Like Mary Magdalene we can encounter the risen Lord in the garden. In our hearts we can race with Peter and John to see the empty tomb.

The eighth and last day of the Octave of Easter was for centuries called “Low Sunday” to contrast it with the awesomeness of Easter Sunday. In April 2000, however, Pope John Paul II designated Low Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday, in response to the private revelations received by St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938).

Though we no longer celebrate the many octaves once observed throughout the Church, the remaining octaves of Christmas and Easter provide us an unparalleled opportunity for celebration and reflection. By extending over eight days the observance of these two sacred solemnities, the Church calls us to enter more deeply into the two great mysteries that stand at the beginning and end of Our Lord’s earthly life.

D.D. Emmons writes from O’Fallon, Ill.

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: Christmas’ Octave Day

“The attention of all should be directed toward the … Solemnity of Mary the holy Mother of God. This celebration, placed on Jan. 1 in conformity with the ancient indication of the liturgy of the City of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the “holy Mother … through whom we were found worthy to receive the Author of life.”

“It is likewise a fitting occasion for renewing adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels (see Lk 2:14), and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace. It is for this reason that, in the happy concurrence of the Octave of Christmas and the first day of the year, we have instituted the World Day of Peace, an occasion that is gaining increasing support and already bringing forth fruits of peace in the hearts of many.”

— Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus (No. 6)

Continue Reading
Comments Off on Why Celebrate Octaves?
6 min read
Church Seasons and Feasts

The Feast of the Presentation

6 min read
23991 views
Comments Off on The Feast of the Presentation
6 min read

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, the feast held on Feb. 2 each year is in honor of the Presentation of the Lord. Some Catholics recall this day as the…

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, the feast held on Feb. 2 each year is in honor of the Presentation of the Lord. Some Catholics recall this day as the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary because such was the feast day named until the 1969 changes in the Church’s calendar.

In fact, according to Luke’s Gospel, the presentation of Jesus and the purification of the Blessed Mother took place in the Temple on the same day, and both are remembered during Mass on Feb. 2. Also, in several countries, Candlemas is simultaneously celebrated on this day and involves a candlelight procession that was popularized in the Middle Ages. Until the Second Vatican Council the feasts on Feb. 2 ended the Christmas season. Today, the season ends in January on the feast of the Baptism of our Lord.

As early as the fourth century Christians commemorated the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, but, at the time, there was no feast name attached. In seventh-century Rome, the Church named the celebration the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mother Mary, and it remained that way for nearly 1,300 years. In the reforms after Vatican II, the feast was given a stronger focus on Jesus (by stressing the Presentation of Jesus), but clearly the events of purification and presentation that took place when Jesus was 40 days old (see Lk 2:22-39) are tied together and thus commemorated together.

Purification and Presentation

Under Mosaic law found in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, a Jewish woman who gave birth to a child was considered unclean (see 12:1-8). The mother of a newborn could not routinely go out into public and had to avoid all things sacred, including the Temple. If her child was a male, this exclusion lasted for 40 days. If the child was female, the period lasted 80 days. This was a ceremonial seclusion and not the result of sin or some kind of wrongdoing on the part of the mother.

At the end of the 40 or 80 days the woman presented herself at the Temple to be purified. If the baby was her firstborn male child, the infant was brought along to the Temple to be dedicated to the Lord. The law in Exodus specifies that the first male child belongs to God (see 13:2-16). This law is a tribute to God for His sparing the firstborn Israelite males during the time of the Exodus from Egypt. The firstborn Egyptian male children, of course, were not spared.

The mother’s purification ritual obliged her to bring, or purchase at the Temple, a lamb and a turtledove as sacrificial offerings. The lamb was offered in thanksgiving to God for the successful birth of the child; the turtledove was a sin offering. Families that could not afford a lamb could bring two pigeons or two turtledoves. After these animals were sacrificed, the Temple priest prayed over the woman and she could once again resume her normal role or status.

Mary, the ever spotless Mother of God, certainly did not have to comply with this ritual, but did so to honor God and observe all the rules handed down by Moses. She was the holiest of all women, but she still submitted to the humbling requirements of the law. She remained at home for 40 days, denied herself all association with sacred things and on the day required walked the five miles from Bethlehem to the Temple in Jerusalem. Arriving at the Temple, Mary likely stood in line and waited her turn to see the priest.

Nunc Dimittis

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus, Mary and Joseph go to the Temple offering two turtledoves for Mary’s purification. Along with Mary’s willing submission, Jesus is presented into the hands of the priest and thus to God. In accordance with the Old Testament, the child was blessed and then bought or ransomed back by the family who would pay five shekels into the Temple treasury. The Savior of the world is ransomed in the manner of every other Hebrew boy. “When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord’”(Lk 2:22-24; see Nm 18:15-16).

The Gospel of Luke explains that the old prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna were at the Temple that day (see 2:22-38). They, like many others, had spent their lifetime waiting, longing for a Messiah, and the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Savior. Among all the children and mothers coming into the Temple, Simeon recognized Jesus as the Christ Child; he held Jesus and exclaimed this hymn of thanksgiving, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (2:29-32). The hymn has traditionally been termed the Nunc Dimittis, from the Latin, “Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace.”

Like Mary, Jesus the Divine Son of God did not have to undergo these rituals, but His parents willingly complied in order to pay tribute to Jewish laws, to avoid any possible scandal and in so doing demonstrated profound humility. They acquiesced to the law like all poor Jewish families.

The Holy Family must have experienced great joy, even wonder at all that had happened to them. Consider the events of the previous weeks. First, the shepherds miraculously arrived to adore and praise Jesus on the night He was born. And now, Simeon, another stranger, singles out Jesus as the Savior, not only of Israel but of the world. Someday all the other children being presented will know Jesus as their Savior. But here in the Temple there is also pain. The old prophet, moved by the Holy Spirit, tells Mary that she will experience unspeakable grief because of the outrageous way the world would judge and treat her Son. But Mary remained always committed to God’s will and to her Son.

Feb. 2 is on the liturgical calendar as the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, but in addition to the presentation, the Mass recalls Mary’s humble submission to the purification ritual.

D.D. Emmons writes from O’Fallon, Ill. 

Continue Reading
Comments Off on The Feast of the Presentation
Advertisement

Type on the field below and hit Enter/Return to search