The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Living the Liturgical Calendar

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Most people live by a calendar, but what about the liturgical calendar? The Catholic Church celebrates and remembers many important people, events and seasons throughout the year. Jeff Cavins explains what some of these important days and seasons are and how we can live our lives according to the liturgical calendar. Snippet from the Show By following God’s calendar, we will not waste time and energy. Rather, we will be focused on his will rather than our own. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 368, Living the Calendar. Welcome to the show this week, my friend. We are one week away from the Tritome, and that's exciting. And I can't wait for that. That's the highlight of the entire year as far as the liturgy goes in the life of Christ. And I was thinking today that what I would like to do with you as a friend is to really introduce you to the liturgical year in kind of a fresh way, in a way where we see ourselves living the calendar. When I was growing up, you know, I got to tell you, I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the church. I didn't know what the new colors were. I didn't know. I didn't know anything. and nobody really sat me down and talked to me about the logic of the calendar.

It really wasn't until after I came back to the Catholic Church that I started to realize, wow, there's some logic here to this. And since we are going to hit the highlight with the Triduum and the Easter Vigil coming up in about a week, I thought it would be good to place ourselves in that calendar. Where are we at now? And if you have kids, aka children, you have an opportunity to teach them something and you can show them where we are at

and this is one of the greatest gifts we have in the church and as I said when I came back to the Catholic Church boy it was big and it was exciting to see the liturgical calendar because prior to coming back into the Catholic Church I've got to tell you I did not have any sense of organization or time or anything other than Easter and Christmas us, and that was half spiritual and half, half, you know, the regular, secular. By the way, if you hear some noise in the background, there is some building happening outside

of the studio, and just ignored. It's not your computer. It's not your phone. Everything is fine. When you hear building, just think of, yes, the kingdom of God, it's building. A little reminder there. Hey, I do have some scriptures for you today, because today is going to be a rich show in scripture and notes. And so I want to make them available to you. If you don't get the notes right now,

all you've got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word, Jeff Kavens, and you can text it to the number 3-3-777-3-7-7. Oh, and by the way, coming up Easter, you know what a great gift is? If you can get a hold of a great adventure Bible for anyone, that's a great gift, tremendous gift. Try to get that if you can. teach your kids how to read the Bible. Today we're going to talk about how to read the calendar, which most people have never had a course on how to read the calendar before. But the calendar, the liturgical calendar, is really the rhythm of the church. It is the rhythm, it's the movement, it is the shape of our year.

As we start the year, in the secular year, we start January 1st, right? but in our spiritual year, it starts in Advent and it ends on Christ the King. And so when a person becomes a Christian, they're literally incorporated into the life of the Trinity. That's what we do when we are baptized and come into the church. And we can participate in God's grace on a day-to-day basis because we're incorporated into the life of the Trinity. Deeply lodged within the heart of every single believer is the hope of the beatific vision, which is to one day enjoy God face to face for eternity in heaven. And by the way, that is what the entire liturgical year is pointing to the beatific vision to be with him.

Now with the beatific vision as our goal, all of life on earth must be a careful, purposefully lived life aimed at perfect conformity to Jesus Christ. Life in Christ is not primarily a singular relationship with God, you know, just me and Jesus, but a community experience where we are immersed in a way of life. You and I are brothers and sisters. We're a family. The Catholic Church is more than a community. It is a family in which we learn and we live and we celebrate Christ all together as a family. Now, the church, in her wisdom, has orchestrated this way of life every day, every week, every month and every year in such a way that the faithful will be more perfectly formed to Christ. I guess you could say in short, the liturgical year of the church conforms our life to the life

of Christ so that we can better realize and experience the saving work of Jesus, our Lord. The key, though, is you got to pay attention. If we're going to lay down the life of Jesus in a liturgical year, then it would behoove us, to pay attention to it so that we can conform our life to him. So the life of Jesus is broken down into seasons and days so that the Christian can live out the life, death, and resurrection, which we're about to do, of Jesus. So it could be said that the life of Jesus is mapped out in the liturgical calendar.

And as the faithful enter into the rhythm of the church starting at Advent, then they enter into the rhythm of the life of the church. Trinity. That's the brilliance. That's the genius of the liturgical year. Yay, church. So utilizing the calendar as a means of relating to the saving actions of God is not a new invention. It's not something that we just came up with in Vatican 2 or, you know, anything recently, all throughout the Hebrew scriptures. The people of God entered into feasts and special holy days as a way to remember the works of God and to conform their lives to His will.

Time for the Hebrews was a very, very important theme in the Bible. It was a weighty commodity, and it was intended to be sanctified, that is, set aside as holy, kadoosh, kadoosh, kadoosh, kadoosh. St. Paul said, in Ephesians chapter 5, he said, therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

So here's what we have. We've got each day, every single day of the liturgical year, each day of the believer's life should be lived with the understanding that God keeps a calendar. That's kind of a concept you don't think about too much. You know, I mean, I keep a calendar, you probably keep a calendar. we probably both have a Google calendar, but God has a calendar? Yeah, he does. And by doing his calendar or by following his calendar, by living his calendar, we will not waste time and energy during our lives because the calendar will keep us focused on his will rather than our own will. Such a deal.

From the beginning of salvation history to the end, we see that God is a God of order. In fact, 1 Corinthians 1440 says and by he talks about how God is a God of order and by following his lead order will be brought to our lives and could you use any of that if you're like me yeah I could use some of that you need some order in my life well let's order our life to him in fact do you know that ordinary time actually means that ordered living ordered days I need some of that Okay. So first of all, we have, and going back to the Old Testament, we have feasts. We have feasts in Israel. And many, many Christians do not realize that the seven feasts that God commanded in Leviticus 23 are still observed by their Jewish neighbors. Yeah, by our, I should say, our Jewish neighbors. But the feasts as given to Israel have a multifaceted significance. First, there were, there was, I should say, say the seasonal aspect of each holiday, every feast, involving agricultural activities in the land, then the feasts were to be a memorial of God's dealings with the people of Israel. And

finally, there may be prophetic symbolism. And many Christians see parallels in God's dealings with Israel and with the church. A study of Israel's feasts will help you and help me better understand the Jewish roots of our faith and teach Christians much, much, much about God's plan of redemption throughout the ages. Leviticus 23, that's the chapter that you might want to look over. It lists the seven feasts in order of their seasonal observance. So you have Passover. You have unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, day of atonement, and the booths or tabernacles. So now the liturgical calendar and the kingdom of God go together. So you have the liturgical year and it begins with Advent and concludes on the feast of, as I said, Christ the king.

And from the beginning of the year to the end, the focus is not only on the life of Christ, but also on his kingdom. So there is a particular logic to this. Now get a hold of this. This is really life transforming. me. There is a logic of the liturgical calendar, a certain logic to the calendar as it relates to our life in the life of Christ, and it emphasizes the life of Jesus. Now, the various important events act as a guide in discovering other important events in the life of Christ. For example, the enunciation. It falls nine months prior to the birth of Christ. So you see the logic there? We don't just

randomly celebrate the enunciation, it is nine months before Jesus is born. That would make sense. Now, as we look at the liturgical calendar, it's important to also realize it's broken up into days and Sundays and months and cycles. So, for example, days. Each and every day in the liturgical calendar is a microcosm of life, as we have the opportunity to sanctify time. That means that each day is made holy through the liturgical celebrations and becomes the stage on which we demonstrate our trust in God and practice good stewardship. The liturgical day runs from, and this is interesting, and a lot of people don't know this, but it runs from midnight to midnight.

But the observance of Sunday and solemnities begins with the evening of the preceding day. It's a little logic there. You might just write that down. I'll probably put it in the notes for you, though. Okay, and then you've got Sunday. The church celebrates the paschal mystery on the first day of the week, known as the Lord's Day or Sunday. And this follows a tradition handed down from the apostles and has its origin from the day of Christ's resurrection. So Sunday must be ranked as the first holiday of them all.

Now, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrew said something very interesting about this in chapter 10. let's see and verses 23 through 25 he said let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds get this now not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near and now the catechism has something to say about that too in paragraph 2180 and i'll put this in the show notes no need to no need to take that note pad out of your pack while you're running across campus it says in paragraph 2120 on sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the mass

the precept of participating in the mass is satisfied by assistance at a mass which is satisfied by assistance at a mass, which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic right, either on the Holy Day or on the evening of the preceding day. Now, in this entire liturgical year, there are cycles of the readings. You know, one of the things that I so appreciated in coming back to the Catholic Church after being away for over 15 years, 12 of which I was a pastor, is this. that the church is saturating herself in the Word of God. In fact, we read over a three-year cycle called cycle A, cycle B, and cycle C.

We read all of the pertinent parts of the Old Testament and the New Testament every three years. I don't know of anybody else who does that. We do. You know why? Because you need a steady diet. You need a balanced diet. you need all of it. And then, you know, cycle A is Matthew and cycle B is Mark. And then cycle C is Luke. And then the Gospel of John, well, it's used in all three cycles, especially during

cycle A in Lent. So the gospel readings are arranged in such a way that they match the life of Christ to this season celebrated. And I love this. I love it. Because do you know there are times on Sunday where what you need you didn't know but the church did and Jesus did and you're going to get it in that week's reading and you might think to yourself man I'm so glad I heard that today well the Lord's Lord's looking out for you the lectionary is so extensive that over three years cycle nearly the entire New Testament and most of the significant portions of the Old Testament are covered so example during Advent our focus is upon the coming of the king and the church points us toward readings such as Isaiah, Isaiah's messionic texts. In Lent, the scriptural readings

are devoted to sin, repentance, and reconciliation. And at Christmas, an Easter, passages related to these major events are utilized. So in addition to the Bible, the bravery, that's the prayers of the church, they follow the church calendar as well. You know, when I taught this one time at a seminar, so many people told me they didn't know that, that particular point. They didn't know it. Now, sprinkled throughout the liturgical year are solemnities, feasts, and memorials. And as the church celebrates the mystery of Christ in a yearly cycle, the church also as venerates with a particular love, Mary, the mother of God.

It sets before us the devotion of the faithful, the memory of the martyrs, and other saints. So the saints of universal significance have celebrations that are obligatory throughout the entire church. Saints are great role models as they have been successful in serving the king and continue to pray for our success. Other saints are left to the veneration of particular regions or religious families. Church kind of thinks of all this, don't they? And then we have days of obligation. Now there's something about that that never sat well with me since coming back to the church. You know the title. It's a day of obligation. It almost sounds like we know you don't want to come, but you're obligated. It almost has that feeling sometimes, you know. What are you

guys doing tonight? Well, we've got, we're obligated. We have to go to the assumption of Mary, you know, in August 15th. But it's not that at all, is it? And I don't think you think that way. I'm just making a point. We call them days of obligation. The church has determined that certain days are so important to the life of the faithful that they are deemed days of obligation. It's not an obligation like you are some kind of slave or servant. It's an obligation.

Why? Because your soul needs it. Your mind needs it. You need it. And on these special days, Christians are obligated to attend Mass and enter into the mystery of Christ. And what are those? well we've got January 1st that's the feast of Mary the mother of of God we've got Easter we have the

ascension we have August 15th that's the assumption of Mary November 1st the feast of all saints December 8th the Immaculate Conception so those are days of obligation I want to get into the colors of the liturgical seasons and and look at this I want to I want to show you in just a few minutes, the entire movement of the liturgical year, something you can teach your kids. And we'll do that right after this. You're listening, my friend, to the Jeff Kaven show. I'm my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know about an exciting announcement that could revolutionize the way you listen to the Bible in the air and the catechism in the year. Ascension has released a new Bible and Catechism app called the Ascension app. No, here's what you get. In this app, you get the

entire text of the Great Adventure Bible. This is incredible. You also get the entire text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as long with the Catechism in your podcast and the Bible in your podcast and transcripts for each episode if you're like I'm tired of listening to that guy I just want to read it there's complete transcripts

from each and every episode one thing that makes this app incredibly unique is that it includes special features that make connections between the Bible and the catechism so crystal clear through color coded references

and all these links and the hyperlinks are amazing I tried it out and I'm like oh my gosh it kind of has changed the way I read through the catechism kind of change the way I read through the Bible. These features will help you navigate the Bible and Catechism even more seamlessly so you can get more out of your experience. Also, the app provides almost 1,000 answers to Bible questions. The people who listen to the Bible in the year, they

wrote in with their questions. Almost 1,000 answers. And those answers come in the form of audio clips, video clips, as well as resources excerpted from some of Ascension's published works. If you want to download this app for free, super simple. Just go to the app store and search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. Okay, we're talking today about the liturgy or the liturgical year, and the title of this is Living the Calendar. We left off with the days of obligation before the break there. But listen to this. There are liturgical seasons. Now, I mentioned to you earlier that the liturgical year starts in Advent and ends with Christ the King. But let's drill down just a little bit here.

We have Advent. That's when we begin. And what are we doing there? Well, every single part of the liturgical year is dealing with Jesus the King. So in Advent, we prepare for the coming of the king. And the color, violet. Advent is a time of twofold preparation. Twofold preparation. Number one, it's a season to prepare for Christmas, which marks the first coming of Christ, and a season when the heart and mind prepare for the second coming of Christ, which is, of course, at the end of time. The church begins Advent with the evening prayer of the Sunday, falling on or closest to November 30th, and it ends before the evening prayer of Christmas. The Sundays of this season are named the first, second, third, and fourth Sundays of Advent.

Then from Advent, we go into Christmas, and we celebrate what? The birth of the king. So we had first the preparation for the coming of the king. Christmas is the birth of the king. The color is white. So we change from violet to white. So next to the yearly celebration of the paschal mystery of Easter, the church holds the most sacred memorial of Christ's birth.

The Christmas season runs from the evening prayer of Christmas until the Sunday after Epiphany or after January 6th. Christmas marks the incarnation when Christ became a man, Jesus became a man, God became a man, and for the first time walked among us. And then we have, during that Christmas season, it has its own octave. Listen to this, Sunday within the octave is the feast of the Holy Family. December 26th is the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr. December 27th is the Feast of St. John, the Apostle, and Evangelist. December 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocence. December 29th, 30th, and 31st are days within the octave, and then January 1st is the

solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Or we would say Theatocos, that was given, that name was given at the Council of Ephesus. Epiphany is the last Sunday of the Christmas octave. This commemorates the visit of the wise men. And then you go into ordinary time. Now, in ordinary time, that doesn't mean it's ordinary time. It means the time is ordered. Your steps are ordered. Your days are ordered. We learn the teachings of the king and the work of the kingdom of God during ordinary time. What's the color? Bingo. It's green. 33 or 34 weeks remain in the yearly cycle. and that does not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects.

So ordinary time begins on the Monday after the Sunday following January 6th and continues until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It begins again on the Monday after Pentecost and ends before the evening prayer of the first Sunday of Advent. Now, you've got a copy of this. You can go back and listen to it. I didn't expect you to write down the whole thing. Well, you know what? I'm going to put it in the notes. Then you hit Lent, and here's where we prepare for the most important actions of the king.

And that, of course, is Easter, the resurrection. So we go back to the color of violet. Lent is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the mass of the Lord. supper. And during this time, we're kind of peculiar, aren't we? The word Hallelujah is not used from the beginning of Lent until the Easter vigil. So on Ash Wednesday, ashes are distributed, reminding the faithful that it was from dust they came and dust they will return. And the sixth Sunday of Lent marks the

beginning of Holy Week. Hey, it's just around the corner. And it's called Palm Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. Yay. And then the trituum. We enter the tritium. We enter into the final week of the king's life. And the color is white and red. The culmination of the liturgical year is the Easter trituum of the passion and resurrection of Christ. And that's where we are about to be. That's where we're going. This is what you can share with your kids. Easter is to the liturgical year what Sunday is to the week. It's the zenith of celebration. So the Holy Week is marked by five special days. Now, I'll put this in the notes, but you've got to share this with your family.

The Holy Week is marked by five special days. Number one, Palm Sunday, coming up. Jesus enters Jerusalem at the same time, the sacrificial flock for Passover enters Jerusalem. color red. Holy Thursday. The bishop blesses the oils and consecrates the chrism. The oil will be used on those who will receive the sacrament of confirmation during the vigil. Good Friday. Marks the betrayal and arrest of the Lord in the Garden of Gatsmeny. And what do we do on Good Friday? We venerate the cross of Christ. Oh, by the way. Next Friday, Good Friday. Oh, man, I've got a message about suffering, you've got to get a hold of. It will transform the tritome for you. I've already put it

together. I cannot wait for you to hear that. Number four, the Easter vigil, the vigil called the mother of all vigils, is celebrated on the morning night preceding Easter Sunday. The church keeps watch eagerly awaiting the Lord's resurrection. And then you enter the Easter season. We enter into the resurrection life of the king. Color is white, Easter Sunday, the celebration of the resurrection of the king. Doesn't get any better, does it? And so after Easter Sunday, we have a really special time. Fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated as one, get this, one great Sunday.

Most people don't know that. I'll say it again, the 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated as a one great Sunday. The liturgical readings during this 50-day period are called the mystogogy, and they aim to educate the new believers in the mystery of Christ, you know, those people who came in on the Easter vigil. And so the readings are going to be really different and pay attention because it's not going to be the regular types of readings. They're going to be New Testament readings that focus on the basic mysteries of Christ. And it's, It's good for you if you've been around for a while because it can be remedial.

So the first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter. And on the 40th day after Easter, the Ascension is celebrated. The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then you have Pentecost. 50 celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. You know, for the Hebrew people, it celebrated the giving of the law to it at Mount Sinai. So, wow, that was it. That's the liturgical year.

So just let me make this one comment here. Do you know that in your parish, you probably have a parish liturgist? Uh-huh. Somebody who is literally full-time in a lot of churches, they're full-time. The role of the parish liturgist is very, very important in the life of the parish. You know what they do? they keep Jesus' calendar. They keep Jesus' calendar.

Because a lot of people will forget these things if somebody doesn't remind them, hey, next week, remember, this is on the calendar. It's Pentecost or it's the Tritome. So next time you see your parish liturgist, litergist, just give them a big thank you for the work that they are doing. All right, my friend, oh, this was fun.

I wanted to share this with you because I've been thinking recently, you know, I didn't used to understand the liturgical years so much. And I wish somebody would have taken me to the side and just showed me that, you know, the logic of it. So, this week, enjoy as you are going to be entering into the Holy Week. And again, next Friday, you know what it's entitled next week? It's called Good Suffering and Friday. Good Suffering in Friday.

That's next week. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, lift up my friend to you now, and I ask you, oh, Jesus, to bless them. I thank you, Jesus, for this amazing week we're about to enter into. And I pray for graces that will change our life and that we'll grow in sanctity and our families will grow in your grace. I thank you for this, Jesus. And we ask our dear mother to pray for us. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary,

of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Amen. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Love you.