Liturgical Calendar

The Return to Ordinary Time Part II in the Liturgical Calendar: We returned to Ordinary Time the day after the Solemnity of Pentecost. Like the ancients, who counted days, weeks, months, and years without the concept of a zero-place value, the Church counts the days between Jesus's Resurrection and the Feast of Pentecost, starting the 50-day count with Easter Sunday as day #1. This year, the Feast of the Ascension fell forty days after Resurrection Sunday on May 9^th, and Pentecost fifty days from Easter on May 19, after which we return to Ordinary Time in the Church's calendar. There are five Church seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, the Paschal Triduum (a three-day season), and Easter. The Sundays of the major seasons of the Liturgical Year are distinguished by their relationship to the Solemnities of Christmas (Advent and Christmas) and Easter (Lent and Easter). Two blocks of Ordinary Time come between the seasons. Ordinary time is not a season; it is just a way to describe the weeks between seasons and to refer to all the days outside the major seasons, as well as Sundays that fall under the heading of celebrations of the "Day of the Lord." The word "ordinary" means "regular" or "plain," but it also means "counted." Ordinal numbers are 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and so on; this is the definition of "Ordinary Time" since we count the weeks between the Church's seasons in ordinal numbers.

The weeks of Ordinary Time number thirty-three or thirty-four, depending on the year, and referring to two parts of the liturgical year. The first part begins on the Sunday after Epiphany (although the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord always takes precedence over the first Sunday) and continues until Ash Wednesday. Because the date of Easter varies each year, the first part of Ordinary Time may include as few as four weeks and as many as nine weeks. Part II of Ordinary Time begins the day after Pentecost and continues to the Saturday before the 1^st Sunday of Advent.

Each year during Ordinary Time, we read through one of the Gospels. One year, we read cycle A, which concentrates on readings from the Gospel of St Matthew. The following year, we turn to Cycle B, which focuses on St. Mark's Gospel; in the third year, Cycle C, we turn to readings from St. Luke's Gospel until we repeat the cycle. God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, which is why, in the Church's Liturgy, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments In her wisdom, the Church teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).

Chart of the Liturgical Calendar:

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church: At the conclusion of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council in 1964, St. Paul VI declared the Blessed Virgin Mary the "Mother of the Church" to all Christian people, including the faithful and the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother and established that "the Mother of God should be further honored and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles."

On February 11, 2018, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments inscribed a new obligatory Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, into the General Roman Calendar. This memorial is celebrated every year on the Monday after Pentecost. This date is appropriate, since Mary was also present in the Upper Room at the birth of the New Covenant Church when God the Holy Spirit came to fill and indwell the assembly, praying with her. This devotion is intended to "encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety."
The decree reflects on the history of Marian theology in the Church's liturgical tradition and the writings of the Church Fathers. The decree states that Saint Augustine and Pope Saint Leo the Great reflected on the Virgin Mary's importance in the mystery of Christ: "In fact, the former (St. Augustine) says that Mary is the mother of the members of Christ because, with charity, she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church, while the latter (St. Leo the Great) says that the birth of the Head is also the birth of the body, thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church."
The decree states that these reflections result from the "divine motherhood of Mary and her intimate union in the work of the Redeemer." It declares that Sacred Scripture depicts Mary at the foot of the Cross of her beloved Son of God (cf. Jn 19:25). There she became the Mother of the Church when she "accepted her Son's testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal."

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus (Corpus Christi): The universal Roman calendar celebrates this Solemnity on the Thursday after the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. However, the United States and Canada observe it on the Sunday after the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The origin of this feast dates back to the Middle Ages, when Christians wanted to joyfully celebrate Jesus's precious gift of the Eucharist in a solemnity that echoed Holy Thursday. They created this feast in the spring to hold joyful processions, street fairs, and other outdoor events for their faith communities. The faithful carried the transformed bread of the Lord's Body outdoors under a canopy in processions with music playing, and the people joined in singing their favorite hymns of praise. Parishes in Latin America and Europe celebrate this Solemnity with joyful and colorful processions.

The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most popular Catholic devotions. Although it was beloved in previous centuries, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673, revealing to her the now-famous image of His Sacred Heart, surrounded by flames. He said to her: "My Heart is so full of love for men that it can no longer contain the flames of its burning love. I must discover to men the treasures of My Heart and save them from perdition." She was given the special mission to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart throughout the Church. Jesus gave St. Margaret Mary many promises associated with this devotion and requested that a feast day in honor of His Sacred Heart be instituted on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi. In 1856, the Feast of the Sacred Heart was spread to the Universal Church, and in 1899, Pope Leo XIII solemnly consecrated all mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling it "the great act" of his pontificate.

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: In the Middle Ages, Roman Catholics began observing this Solemnity on the third Friday after Pentecost to remember and venerate Christ's precious wounds. It echoed Good Friday as a day of devotion to the Passion of Christ in which the faithful remembered Jesus's suffering to help them face their hardships. St. Gertrude the Great, who lived in the 13^th century, envisioned Jesus appearing to her as He did to St. Thomas the Apostle (Jn 20:24-29). Jesus showed St. Gertrude His wounds and taught her of His love, which she said poured forth from His Sacred Heart. In the 17^th century, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque testified that Christ appeared to her in a vision and chose her to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart. St. John Eudes preached about the loving heart of Jesus and composed a liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. In 1765, Pope Clement XIII approved this devotion and set the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Church's calendar. See St. Bonaventure's document on this Solemnity.

The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary: The Church usually celebrates the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus unless another feast takes precedence. Solemnities of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary celebrate God's generous love. In the First Letter of St. John, he writes that "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8). God is the author of life, and His deep and abiding love gives value and purpose to every human life. St. Louis Grignion de Montfort spread the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in France in the 18^th century to encourage Catholics to turn to the love of the Mother of Christ and all Christians (Rev 12:17b). The celebration is also a call to accept her comfort and her son's promise that salvation is a gift of God open to all humanity.

Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Most saints' days commemorate the saint on the anniversary of their entrance into Heaven, but three feasts celebrate a saint's natural birth. The Church celebrates the births of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. John the Baptist. They were filled with the Holy Spirit in their mothers' wombs before their births. The angel Gabriel told St. John the Baptist's father that God filled his son with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. The angel promised that his birth would be cause for rejoicing: "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God" (Lk 1:14-16). Observing this Solemnity, we obey the angel's command to rejoice in St. John's birth. St. John was the last of the Old Covenant prophets. God chose him before his birth to be the divinely appointed herald to announce the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah to the Jews (Mt 3:1-11). St. John fulfilled his divinely appointed mission when he baptized Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River in preparation for Jesus's mission and announced Him as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Mt 3:12-17; Mk 1:1-11; Lk 3:1-22; Jn 1:19-34). The Church established this feast very early in its history, at about the same time as the feast of the Christ Mass (Christmas).

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: Jesus renamed Simon, the Galilean Fisherman, to indicate the change in his destiny. Jesus gave him the title "Kepha," meaning "rock" in Aramaic, and transliterated in English Bibles as "Peter" from the Greek Petros (Jn 1:42; Mt 16:17-18). Jesus commissioned Peter to become the "rock" on which He built His Kingdom of the Church (Mt 16:19; Jn 21:15-19) and the leader of the Apostles. After Jesus's Resurrection, Peter took up his office as the Vicar of Christ and the steward of the new Davidic Kingdom of the Church. After several years in Jerusalem and seven years in Antioch, Syria, St. Peter traveled to Rome, where he established the center of the universal (Catholic) Church, which was, by Jesus's command, to extend to the "ends of the earth" (Mt 28:19; Acts 1:8). According to early Church historians, St. Peter served for twenty-five years as the first Bishop of Rome and the Pope (Papa) of the universal Church. He suffered martyrdom by crucifixion during the reign of Emperor Nero circa AD 67, dying on the same day that St. Paul suffered martyrdom.

St. Paul was born with the Hebrew name "Saul" in the Roman provincial capital of Tarsus in Asia Minor. He was an officer of the Jewish Sanhedrin (Jewish high court) and persecuted Christians (Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2; 22:3-5). While on the way to Damascus (Syria) to arrest Christians, Paul came face to face with a vision of the Resurrected Jesus Christ. His conversion experience led to his baptism and a life of service to Christ and His Church as the "apostle to the Gentiles" (Acts 9:3-19). Sponsored by his Christian community in Antioch, Syria, Paul led three missionary journeys into Asia Minor and Greece, where he successfully preached the Gospel and founded many faith communities. Later, the Roman governor of Judea sent Paul to Rome as a prisoner, where he lived under house arrest. Since he was allowed to have visitors, Paul taught the Christian communities of Rome for about two years until he was exonerated and freed after his trial. According to early Church historians, Paul undertook a fourth missionary journey after his release to spread the Gospel in Spain and perhaps in Britain. Upon returning to Rome, the Romans arrested St. Paul again, and he suffered martyrdom on the same day as St. Peter. St. Peter suffered martyrdom by crucifixion, and St. Paul, a Roman citizen, suffered martyrdom by beheading in c. AD 67. The Memorial of the Martyrs of Rome under Nero on June 30^th recalls the saints whose names we do not know and who also died during the same persecution under which Sts. Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom.

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