Liturgical Lines
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Monsignor Gervasio occassionally provides information on liturgical celebrations under the title "Liturgical Lines." These will be included under this page.
Advent
Advent has a two-fold character. It is a season to prepare for Christmas which commemorates the first coming of the Son of God to humanity, and a time when we are led to look forward to Christ’s second coming at the end of time. Advent begins with Evening Prayer/Mass on December 1 and ends with celebration of the Christmas Vigil Masses, December 24.
The use of the organ and other instruments and the decoration of the altar with flowers are to be done in a moderate manner, that is, without anticipating the full joy of Christmas. The official liturgical color is violet. (The use of blue is prohibited in the US).
Christmastide and Ordinary Time
January 8 is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It brings to a close the Church's celebration of the Christmas season. Ordinary Time begins on the following day, and continues through the day before Ash Wednesday (in 2018, from Tuesday, January 9 through Tuesday, February 13). In Latin, Ordinary Time is called "Tempus per Annum" (Time through the Year).
The Transfiguration of the Lord
Our observance of the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time defers to the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is a celebration that traces its origin to the 5th century in the Eastern Church. Its observance was well established in the west by the 9th century. August 6 is considered the dedication day of the church on Mt. Tabor, the site of the Lord’s Transfiguration. Pope Callistus III added it to the general church calendar in 1457 to commemorate the Christian victory over the Turks at Belgrade in 1456.
The Solemnity of Pentecost
The Solemnity of Pentecost brings to a festive close the fifty day celebration of Easter. The Paschal Candle will be placed by the baptismal font, and will continue to be lighted at baptisms and funeral liturgies.
"Ordinary Time" resumes on Monday, with the 9th Week. The Marian prayer, Angelus recited at morning, noon, and evening, replaces Regina Caeli that is prayed during the Easter Season.The Solemnity of Corpus Christi
Today (June 3), we reaffirm…our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery that constitutes the heart of the Church…Corpus Christi…is a unique feast and constitutes an important encounter of faith and praise for every Christian... [I]t was born for the precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the People of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Corpus Christi is…a renewal of the mystery of Holy Thursday…It was the Apostles who received the gift of the Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but it was destined…for the whole world…[T]his is the perpetual and living heritage that Jesus has bequeathed to us…It is an inheritance that demands to be constantly rethought and relived so that, as Blessed Paul VI said, its "inexhaustible effectiveness may be impressed upon all the days of our mortal life"
Because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must not be surprised if today too many find hard to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since the day when…at Capernaum, Jesus declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as food. This seemed "a hard saying" and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as now, the Eucharist remains a "sign of contradiction" and can only be so because God who makes himself flesh…throws human wisdom into crisis.
However, with humble trust, the Church makes the faith of Peter and the other Apostles her own and proclaims with them: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Let us renew our profession of faith in Christ, alive and present in the Eucharist. Yes, "this [is] the truth each Christian learns, "bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine."