The Liturgical Year


Book Description

Places the theological and spiritual elements of the liturgical world against the backdrop of its historical development.







The Liturgical Year


Book Description

A journey of the soul through the map of Christian time. The liturgical year, beginning on the first Sunday of Advent and carrying through the following November, is the year that sets out to attune the life of the Christian to the life of Jesus, the Christ. What may at first seem to be simply an arbitrary arrangement of ancient holy days, or liturgical seasons, this book explains their essential relationship to one another and their ongoing meaning to us today. It is an excursion into life from the Christian perspective, from the viewpoint of those who set out not only to follow Jesus but to live and think as Jesus did. And it proposes to help us to year after year immerse ourselves into the sense and substance of the Christian life until, eventually, we become what we say we are—followers of Jesus all the way to the heart of God. It is an adventure in human growth; it is an exercise in spiritual ripening. A volume in the eight book classic series, The Ancient Practices, with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor.




Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year


Book Description

The liturgy of the Catholic Church is the action by which Jesus Christ unites the members of the Church in glorifying God. It makes people holy through words, music, action and signs. The Eucharist is intended to be the most powerful means of union with our God, with the saints in heaven and with each other, and is to be a foretaste of the praise of God given in joy by the saints in heaven. As we move through the whole of the year, the Church is united with the mysteries of Christ's earthly life so as to come closer to her Lord and Saviour. Monsignor Peter Elliott provides scholarship and many years' experience and love of the liturgy. His previous work Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite has helped many people to celebrate our liturgy with attention and devotion. This present work is a guide to the most important moments of the Church year from Advent and Christmas to Holy Week, Corpus Christi and to the Solemnity of Christ the King. His book has been a long-awaited guide to those who wish to celebrate the events of the Church year with dignity, devotion, and deep faith. "Monsignor Elliot is one of the most insightful and reliable liturgists writing today. The rubrics of the Roman Rite are not self-explaining, but with Elliot's work safely in reach, a generation of liturgists raised without a rich training in tradition can confidently approach the Ritual and be more respectful of the faithful's fundamental right to sound worship." -Dr. Edward Peters Institute for Pastoral Theology, Ave Maria University




Introduction to the Study of Liturgy


Book Description

Worship is at the heart of the Christian faith. This applies equally to all denominations. For that reason it is all the more important that the ordering of worship and its place in the life of the church is regularly rewritten and reinterpreted. This volume--based on the third, completely revised German edition from 2013 by two of the foremost liturgical scholars in Germany--offers a contemporary, comprehensive introduction to the foundations for the study of liturgy today, one from which scholars and students in the English-speaking world can also profit. Beyond appealing to students of liturgy and theology, this book reaches out to everyone who wants to know more about the liturgical essence and dimensions of the church.




Between Memory and Hope


Book Description

This anthology surveys the development and theology of the liturgical year in the order of its historical evolution: From Sabbath to Sunday"; "From Passover to Pascha" (Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost); and "From Pascha to Parousia" (Epiphany, Christmas, and Advent). In addition, introductory essays on the meaning of the liturgical year and a short concluding section on the sanctoral cycle ("From Parousia to Persons") are also provided. While written as a companion to standard works in the field, beginning with graduate students in liturgy and seminarians, this book is intended for all - pastors, liturgists, catechists, religious educators - who seek to live according to the Church's theology of time as it is reflected in its calendar of feasts and seasons. Through feast and fast, through festival and preparation, the liturgical year celebrates the presence of the already crucified and risen Christ among us today. Between Memory and Hope shows that to live between past and future, between memory and hope, is to remember Christ's passion as we encounter his presence among us now and as we await his coming again in glory. Articles and their contributors are "The Liturgical Year: Studies, Prospects, Reflections," by Robert F. Taft, SJ; "Liturgical Time in the Ancient Church: The State of Research," by Thomas J. Talley; "Day of the Lord: Day of Mystery," by H. Boone Porter; "Sunday: The Heart of the Liturgical Year," by Mark Seale; "The Frequency of the Celebration of the Eucharist Throughout History," by Robert F. Taft, SJ; "History and Eschatology in the Primitive Pascha," by Thomas J. Talley; "The Origins of Easter," by Paul F. Bradshaw; "The Three Days and the Forty Days," by Patrick Regan, OSB; "The Veneration of the Cross," by Patrick Regan, OSB; "Holy Week in the Byzantine Tradition," by Robert F. Taft, SJ; "The Origin of Lent at Alexandria," by Thomas J. Taley; "Preparation for Pascha? Lent in Christian Antiquity," by Maxwell E. Johnson; "The Fifty Days and the Fiftieth Day," by Patrick Regan, OSB; "Making the Most of Trinity Sunday," by Catherine Mowry LaCugna; "Constantine and Christmas," by Thomas J. Taley; "The Origins of Christmas: The State of the Question," by Susan K. Roll; "The Appearance of the Light at the Baptism of Jesus and the Origins of the Feast of Epiphany," by Gabriele Winkler; "The Origins and Evolution of Advent," by Martin J. Connell; "On Feasting the Saints," by John F.Baldovin, SJ; "The Marian Liturgical Tradition," by Kilian McDonnell, OSB; "Forgetting and Remembering the Saints," by James F. White; "The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary: a Lutheran Reflection," by Maxwell E. Johnson; and "The Liturgical Year: Calendar for a Just Community," by John F. Baldovin, SJ.




Living the Christian Year


Book Description

Bobby Gross presents chapters on each season of the liturgical year, accompanied by weekly devotions based on the Sunday readings of the lectionary cycle. His book offers a flexible weekly format, designed to let you break the devotions down any way you want to.




Worshiping in Season


Book Description

Worshiping in Season guides ministers through a meaningful framework for ecologically oriented worship. Following the liturgical calendar and maintaining a Christocentric emphasis, Joseph E. Bush Jr. aligns earthly seasons with the liturgy and suggests readings, songs, and other acts of worship to amplify an ecologically informed Christology. The seasons of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost and Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany recall and reenact dramas about Jesus Christ that entail good news for the natural world and for the flourishing of earthly creatures. Bush examines the Christological and ecological importance of selections from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the Mass and the Revised Common Lectionary that is used in ecumenical Protestant denominations. Creation and Christ weave together in concert, and Christian worship is seen as an opportunity to participate in both creation’s longing and in Christ’s saving work. Each chapter includes resources and suggestions for worship as well as biblical commentary and theological interpretation helpful to preaching. This book is a valuable companion in preparing for worship during the important seasons of the Christian year, giving voice to our faith in Christ and our hope for the Earth.




What, Then, Is Liturgy?


Book Description

Father Anscar Chupungco fondly recalls his first class as a student at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in 1965. Professor Salvatore Marsili 'famed theologian, liturgist, and cofounder of the institute 'entered the lecture hall, and after a prolonged and awkward silence finally asked, And so, what is liturgy?" This seemingly simple question underlies Chupungco's untiring love for liturgy and his lifetime of searching for answers. His is a passion deeply rooted in tradition, which is evident in this volume. Relying on Scripture, patristic writers, and conciliar and postconciliar documents 'and with great skill, prudence, and the fundamental virtue of obedience 'he carefully examines current liturgical trends that are the subject of fierce debate. At a time when we focus so intently on the debate itself, Chupungco cautions us to remember: "At the end of the day what matters are not personal opinions but what truly contributes to making the prayer of the Church an encounter with the person of Christ." It is this most sacred encounter that is at the heart of What, Then, Is Liturgy? And it is this encounter that will lead us day by day to the ultimate heavenly liturgy, our eternal and perfect offering of praise to God. Anscar Chupungco is a Benedictine of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila. He is former president of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome, where he taught history of the liturgy and liturgical inculturation. Chupungco was Executive Secretary of the Philippine Episcopal Commission on Liturgy for eighteen years and is currently Secretary of the Asian Liturgy Forum. He has served as consultor to both the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, was a member of the Advisory Committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) for ten years, and for some time served as Chair of ICEL's Translations and ReVisions Subcommittee. Chupungco edited the five-volume Handbook for Liturgical Studies and is author of Liturgical Inculturation (both published by Liturgical Press), Cultural Adaptation of the Liturgy, and Liturgies of the Future. "