Everything Connects to the Church Year (Fr. Andrew)

Everything Connects to the Church Year

The end of the Liturgical Year B (Cycle B) is here, and so Year C is almost at the thresholds of our churches. We have spent a twelfth-month period in our parish churches celebrating the Paschal Mysteries together, exchanging greetings, praying with and for one another during the year, and building stronger identity and ties as Holy Spirit parishioners.

Every Church Year starts on the first Sunday of Advent, i.e., the Sunday close to the beginning of December and ends on the Feast of Christ the King, i.e., Sunday close to the end of November 30.

That the liturgical calendar precedes the secular calendar underscores the undoubted reality that all human history and experiences have their primacy and crescendo in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, the Alpha, and Omega (Rev. 21: 6). The Liturgical Year is, therefore “the human response rooted in the deep human need for faith in an ever-present and caring God, and for order, stability, life-inspiring changes and life-giving memories” that we celebrate in the seasons, solemnities, feasts and memorials of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Saints during the year. Every portion of the calendar is essential and requires our observance of it as Catholics

Throughout the year which ends this week, I enjoyed celebrating in all three churches of our parish, appreciating the architectural and spatial designs unique to each of them. Each worship space introduces us to unique richness and significance for a parish liturgical and spiritual life that every parishioner must notice and enjoy. If this past year you didn’t take advantage of this unique situation we have here in Holy Spirit to mix a little more with worshipers in other locations except in your favorite church, then,  perhaps you may decide to do so as the new year begins. Remember, everything is related together in this parish.

However, I do know that resolutions are often associated with the end of one calendar year and the starts of another. How many of us make essential decisions in December to commit to something that we consider significant and work towards it.

But we hardly consider the end of a Liturgical Year as a moment to examine our lives and make resolutions to step up efforts to improve in some dimensions of our lives. If everything revolves around Christ, the center of our lives and faith, then we center our aspirations and resolutions on him through the Paschal Mystery. Maybe this church year you missed more masses, confessed less or none at all, dealt more with some social, emotional, spiritual, and material concerns than you wanted, you don’t have to wait till December to resolve to make amendments. The Liturgical Year can be rather a good and favorable time to try and commit with the help of Christ.

Fr. Andrew.

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