[Question:]{.underline} What is the connection between education and the liturgical year?
[Answer:]{.underline} The importance of a precise memorization of the questions and answers of the catechism escapes no traditional Catholic parent and educator. The relevance, importance and precise effect on children of following the Church’s liturgical year escapes not a few.
A parent who does not succeed in teaching his children to accurately repeat the questions and answers of the catechism according to his age and abilities, must consider himself a failure as an educator, not equipping his children with the knowledge they need to face up to an unbelieving world. However, many parents make no effort to explain the cycle of the Church’s year, the usage of the daily Missal and the meaning of the texts of the major feasts to be found therein, not forasmuch considering themselves culpable.
There is, indeed, something very simple about the teaching of a compilation of statements and facts, of obligations and laws to be followed to get to heaven. Children will readily memorize, and are in fact drawn to the rather cold and logical summary of religion found in the catechism, finding it “easier to practice a legalistic religion…to think of religious duty as the observance of a law rather than as the achievement of a life.” (Leen, Fr. Edward, What is true education? p. 179). It could hardly be otherwise, for the effort of learning by heart is much less than that required to embrace interiorly.
But who is unaware of the fact that many children who learned well their catechism, later on fall away from the practice of it? Why, if not because the catechism has not had the profound effect it ought to have had in forming the character of the adolescent who turns away from the practice of religion. It has not captured his imagination, inspired his will, formed his way of thinking, planning, hoping and desiring in a truly pedagogical way, corresponding with his aspiration to live a life of real meaning and value. This is not the fault of the catechism, for it is not designed to do this, but rather to present a logical summary of the Faith.
HOLY MOTHER CHURCH’S EDUCATION
There is, however, a parent who does know how to form character in a truly supernatural manner, to captivate our minds and wills by immersing us in the divine drama of the work of Redemption of fallen mankind. It is Holy Mother Church, and She has her own way of instructing and drawing us into the most fundamental and sublime supernatural realities upon which our entire supernatural makeup depends; namely the divine adoption, the supernatural life of grace, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the participation in Christ’s Redemption, the Imitation of Christ, the Mystical Body through which the graces of the Redemption are applied to our souls, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the whole redeemed race. All these truths are present in the catechism, but do not hold a particularly prominent place. Yet, they are fundamental to the Church’s liturgy, and are presented to us constantly throughout the liturgical year with incredible variety, imagination and forcefulness. In this way the Church’s year is truly pedagogical, and forms supernatural character, the re-living in our own selves of the mysteries of Christ’s life and death, in a way that the abstract study of the catechism cannot do. All other things being equal, the child who has been taught to live and to love the liturgical cycle, is much more likely to made his own these fundamental teachings of the supernatural order.
We who are in Tradition consider ourselves truly blessed to have the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to be able to assist at it every Sunday, and receive the sacraments frequently. We forget that this is not a goal, but simply the beginning of the life of grace, centered as it is around the person of Jesus Christ, which finds its fulness only when our entire day, week and year follows the cycle of mysteries presented to us by the Church. Nobody expresses this more eloquently thatn Pope Pius XII, in his magnificent encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy:
“Throughout the entire year, the Mass and the Divine Office center especially around the person of Jesus Christ: this arrangement is so suitably disposed that Our Savior dominates the scene in the mysteries of His humiliation, of His redemption and triumph. While the Sacred Liturgy calls to mind the mysteries of Jesus Christ, it strives to make all believers take their part in them so that the divine Head of the Mystical Body may live in all the members with the fulness of His holiness. Let the souls of Christians be like altars on each one of which a different phase of the Sacrifice, offered by the High Priest, comes to life again, as it were: - pains and tears which wipe away and expiate sin; supplication to God which pierces heaven; dedication and even immolation of oneself made promptly, generously and earnestly; and finally that intimate union by which we commit ourselves and all we have to God, in whom we find our rest; ‘the perfection of religion is to imitate whom you adore’” (Mediator Dei, 151 & 152).
The “average” Mass attendee could well consider this impossible to comprehend. For his contact with the liturgical year is limited to the readings at Sunday Mass, and some sacrifices during Advent and Lent, so that he can celebrate afterwards. He has not reflected on the proper chants and prayers of each Mass, and how they relate to the liturgical season, and is certainly not familiar with the antiphons and hymns in the Divine Office. He is consequently unable to relive the mysteries, from the longing and expectation of Advent, to the docility to the action of the Holy Ghost, so as to be on fire with divine love, during the season of Pentecost. If we allow this to continue to be the case with our children, they also will remain spectators, untouched and unmoved by the divine mysteries that pass them by.
Yet children are perfectly capable of being instructed in the meaning of each phase of the liturgical year. More yet, they are incredibly open to the symbolic meaning which the sacred liturgy presents to their senses, understanding by a divine intuition that Our Divine Savior’s example is given that they might walk in his footsteps. The reason is that they learn through their senses, and it is through these same senses that the Liturgy adores, prays, begs and thanks the Most Holy Trinity. Dom Marmion explains this very well:
“It is a psychological law of our nature - matter and spirit - that we should pass from the visible to the invisible. The outward elements of the celebration of the mysteries serve as rungs in a ladder whereby our souls may rise to the contemplation and love of heavenly and supernatural realities. This is, moreover, as we sing at Christmas, the dispensation of the Incarnation itself: ‘that while we acknowledge Him to be God seen by men, we may be drawn [by Him]{.underline} to the love of things unseen’ (Preface of the Nativity)” …Christ’s mysteries are truly not only examples, and subjects of contemplation; they are likewise sources of grace…The mysteries of Jesus are states of His Sacred Humanity; all His graces came from His Divinity in order to be communicated to His Humanity, and through His Humanity to each member of His mystical body…” (Christ in His Mysteries, p. 23 & 24).
OPPOSING ERRORS
In order to truly appreciate the sequence of events in the life of Christ, His Blessed Mother, and the saints, that makes up the liturgical year, we must consequently avoid two errors. The first error is to consider these events from a purely historical perspective, as something that simply happened at some time in the past, and that is consequently not particularly relevant to us. It is the error of grown ups penetrated by the scientific way of thinking, and is roundly condemned by Pope Pius XII: “Hence the Liturgical Year devotedly fostered and accompanied by the Church, is not a cold and lifeless representation of the events of the past, or a simple and bare record of a former age. It is rather Christ Himself Who is ever living in His Church” (Ib. 165).
The opposed and modernist error is to depreciate the value of the physical events in the life of Christ, such as the poverty of the Incarnation or the bitter sufferings of the Passion, in favor of the “illusion of a higher mysticism” (Ib. 162) or vague remembrance of a glorified Christ. It is to condemn this error (so prevalent since Vatican II) that Pope Pius XII condemns those who “who have gone so far as to want to remove from the Churches images of the Divine Redeemer suffering on the Cross”, (Ib.) replacing it with a risen Christ. The same could be said not only of the abolition of crucifixes, but also of all the realistic statues and holy pictures, picturing the real life of Christ the the saints - now so often replaced, when they even exist, by surrealistic images, that have no correspondence with reality. Children need this realistic presentation to the senses, notably of the sufferings of the Blessed Mother, the Saints and of Our Lord Himself. For without them the Incarnation, and the religion of the Incarnate Word are entirely evacuated.
PREPARATION
The liturgical year thus understood must be prepared. The texts of the Mass and Divine Office ought to be carefully read over ahead of time. If need be a commentary, such as found in a good daily Missal or Dom Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year or Pius Parsch’s The Church’s Year of Grace, can be of great help. The reading of stories or texts from Sacred Scripture can also be very helpful. These can be from the Old Testament, when appropriate, in which case they need to be paraphrased or abbreviated and explained. Such is the case of the story of Creation and the Fall for the time of Septuagesima, or Isaiah’s prophesy of the Babylonian captivity and return therefrom in the time of Advent. Often the very texts of the Mass will suggest appropriate readings, such as the Psalms or the story of Job or the prophet Daniel and the three young men in the furnace, symbol of the Resurrection. Frequently, they will be from the New Testament, as is the case of the Nativity, or any of the mysteries in the lives of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother or the apostles that are directly told in Sacred Scripture.
Mary Reed Newland has this to say concerning such reading:
“Reading from the Old Testament to children teaches them many things. It probes far back to the roots of our own liturgy. It follows the course of events from the fall to the coming of Christ at Bethlehem and prophesies His glorious resurrection on Easter. It draws the whole plan of the redemption for them and begins to illuminate the prayers of the Mass. And together with the lives of the martyrs and saints of the New Testament, it gives them the best answer of all to the widespread proposition that men and women who love God in the heroic manner are sissies anad cannot compete with comboys and space cadets today.” (In Raising your Children, Integrity Vol. 2, p. 166 & 167).
THE LIVING OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR
In a previous article it was pointed out that the Church educates through the sequence of the liturgical year, and that to profit from this education one must at the same time appreciate the reality of the historical events that make up this celebration, and meditate on their mystical signification, being applied and relived in our own human lives.
ADVENT
In effect, each of the Church’s times and seasons has a special significance and a “treasure of sanctity for us to make our own” (Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 153). The year starts with Advent, a time of longing for God Our Lord to come into our souls, in union with the longing of the prophets of old, for the Messias to come. The historical prophecies of the eight centuries before Christ pass before our eyes, giving us the sense of the Faith on the necessity for the Incarnation for the Redemption of mankind. However, at the same time we understand our own deficiencies, in which we resemble the blindness of those centuries before the Redeemer, become more aware of our sins, desirous of restraining our selfish desires and practicing voluntary mortification. Just as the prophet Isaias acknowledges that “a Virgin shall conceive and bear forth a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us” (7:14), so likewise do we reflect on our need that the Saviour be born into our souls, and meditate on the “longing desire to return to God Who alone can free us by His grade from the stain of sin and from its eveil consequences (Ib. 154).
Advent is, in fact, one of the liturgical seasons that is in general little appreciated. The focus is altogether on Christmas. Yet, without this season of preparation, Christmas falls flat, and remains superficial in its appreciation. This happens in particular when Christmas parties are celebrated during Advent, or Christmas trees and Nativity scenes are erected during Advent, and when there is no effort to observe the Ember Days of Advent, and the Vigil of Christmas as a day of fast and abstinence. A good missal or explanation of the season of Advent, will give much food for thought. Likewise the prayers and readings, the Vespers’ antiphons and the “O” antiphons recited every day from December 17 - 23, expressing as they do the eager expectation for Incarnate Wisdom. A common practice is to prepare a crib, adding a straw for each sacrifice through Advent, as a token of love for the divine Infant. Likewise is popular the use of the Jesse tree, a small tree indicating symbolically the geneaology of our Divine Saviour, and named after the father of King David, Jesse. The purpose is to attach to its branches a symbol, representation or text from the great figures of the Old Testament who prepared for Christ to come, such as Abraham, Moyses, Samuel, David. One can be done every day during the Advent, with the reading of the corresponding story or text from the Old Testament, according to creativity, imagination and enthusiasm.
THE INCARNATION
Whilst everybody observes Christmas, it is not well understood that this liturgical season continues until the feast of the Purification, on the 40^th^ day after Christmas. Consequently, the Incarnation is frequently not celebrated as the central event in human history. More regular visits to the Blessed Sacrament or more faithful recitation of the Angelus ought to characterize this time. Furthermore, since we celebrate God’s gift of Himself to mankind, all our gifts ought to express this, and ought to be self-sacrificing, rather than with the intention of receiving another’s gift in return. To achieve this, some gifts ought to be reserved for the poor or others who are unable to return the favour. Such generosity is the outward symbol of the complete rebirth by grace that is the special fruit of the Incarnation, and entirely gratuitous gift that cannot be returned.
The meaning of the time of the Epiphany is also poorly appreciated. It is the manifestation of God made man to the world. The real visit of the three kings from the East, the miracle of the first sign by which water was changed into wine, and the baptism of Our Divine Saviour by St. John the Baptist, are the three events in which God made man manifests himself and receives the adoration due to his divinity. The feast is a call to conversion, to publicly acknowledge Christ as the King of kings, and to shine forth that Faith by our confidence in Divine Providence. The custom of blessing and marking with blessed chalk the lintels of doorways with the year and the names of the three kings from the east (Caspar, Melchior & Baltasssar) is an outward sign of our internal submission to this divine King.
The special beauty of Candlemas escapes no Catholic soul. The candles that are blessed, carried in procession, and held during the singing of the Gospel and during the Canon of the Mass, are powerful symbols of the Sacred Humanity of Christ, “light of revelation to the Gentiles and glory of Thy people Israel.” (Lk 2:32). Just as they burn, are consumed and give forth light, so also Christ, who Himself declared: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12), was consumed by the fire of his love to give us the light of everlasting life. The blessed Candlemas candles that we take home to burn in times of temptation, trouble, family discord, tempest etc. are consequently the constant reminder of our Divine Saviour’s offering of himself in the temple, with which we unite our own offering of ourselves at each Mass.
The time of Septuagesima has its particular focus also: the weakness of man’s nature after the Fall, at which he lost not only sanctifying grace, but also the preternatural gifts. This weakness, most particularly manifest by the four wounds of ignorance, malice, weakness and concupiscence, is the reason why our daily spiritual lives must necessarily be a constant struggle to resist temptation and to overcome the spirit of the world. The absence of the Alleluia at Mass is a reminder to get back to the serious things of life, and to “work out your salvation in fear and trembling” (Phil 2:13). It is a time to take special care about making one’s daily sacrifices.
The different Masses in the missal for every day in Lent are one of the great treasures of the liturgical year. In so many different ways, with different stories of God’s mercy from the Old and New Testament, they urge us to amend our lives, detest our sins and expiate them by prayer and penance. During Passiontide the sufferings of the innocent, persecuted prophet Jeremias are the figure that leads us to understand the depth of the betrayal and anguish that Our Divine Savior suffered in His Passion, culminating on Holy Wednesday in Isaias’ prophecy of the suffering servant of God, meek as a lamb led to the slaughter, upon whom the Lord has laid the iniquity of us all. (Is 53:6). During the unspeakably poignant symbolism of the Holy Triduum, of the Tenebrae as well as of the Masses and Solemn Liturgy, we relive the mysteries of the Passion, for which all our sins are responsible, begging the help and grace of making them our own.
The educational power of the liturgical year is not yet fully accomplished. Man’s nature is to be happy, and he will only learn when he sees that this learning is the key to the greatest happiness possible. And so the Liturgy lifts a man up to the things of heaven, that he may no longer be preoccupied with the things of this earthly existence. This is the fruit of the Paschal season, for “we must rise, in union with the Redeemer, from our cold and slothful life to one of greater fervour and holiness by giving ourselves completely and generously to God” (Ib. 159). Yet this is still not enough, for the Church would have us learn our entire dependence upon the Sacred Humanity of Our Divine Saviour, gone before us to prepare us a place, now always living on the right hand of the Father to intercede on our behalf. This is the purpose of the time of the Ascension.
During the Octave of Pentecost, during which the external mission of the Holy Ghost onto the Church is celebrated, we are set on fire with divine love, so as to strive daily to advance in virtue, to correspond with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and to become holy, “for this is the will of God, your sanctification” (I Th 4:3). The temporal cycle is then completed by the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, of Corpus Christi, and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, bringing to our minds the principal mysteries of our Faith, upon which our eternal salvation depends, and finally by the time after the Pentecost, during which time the soul puts into practice all these virtues and graces, inspired by the teachings of the Apostle of the Gentiles in selections from his many epistles, and the examples from the life of Our Lord taken from the Gospels. On the Last Sunday of October we have the opportunity to profess our Faith in Christ’s Social Kingship, praying that his absolute dominion may be recognized by society as a whole. Then on the Last Sunday after Pentecost, we prepare for the end of the world and the second coming by meditating on the Last Judgment.
SANCTORAL CYCLE
The temporal cycle is not, however, complete in itself. Constantly interwoven with it, overlapping with it, and enriching it, is the sanctoral cycle. As a true pedagogue, the Church knows that man learns more effectively by example than by any other means. The saints’ feast days, reminding us constantly of examples of heroic virtue, inspire us to cultivate the divine life of Christ in our souls. This is how Pope Pius XII puts it: “The Sacred Liturgy puts all these gems of sanctity before us so that we may consider them for our salvation, and ‘rejoicing at their merits, we may be inflamed by their example’…These are the footprints left by the Saint in their journey homeward, that guided by them we might follow them into glory” (Ib. 167).
If the Church presents a brief life of each day’s saint in the office of Matins and instructs that a summary be read during the office of Prime of the preceding day, it is certainly the mind of the Church that every Catholic be desirous of reading a little of the life of the saints of every day. What an encouraging practice! If we cannot do so every day, at least let us remember the most important feast days of saints, namely those of first or second class. Mark them off on the calendar, become familiar with them, celebrate the feast with some special solemnity, and you will become educated in the life of grace that was theirs. In particular, let us welcome the feast of the Apostles, columns of the Church, that come around nearly every month, and the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our mother and highest educator, who will protect and help us in proportion as we honour each one of the privileges that each feast celebrates: - from her Immaculate Conception to her Assumption into heaven: from her Annunciation to her Transfixion at the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows: from being the Mother of God to becoming the Mediatrix of all graces.
Let, then, no truly Catholic home be without the resources to learn to adore, pray and love in the school of the Liturgy. It will have a daily Missal with commentary. It will have a liturgical calendar for every day of the year. It will have a commentary on the liturgical year. It will have a complete Bible. It will have a collection of lives of saints. But most of all it will have a love for what the monks call the “opus Dei”, “the work of God” - the Church’s public praise, adoration, petition and thanksgiving in the sacred Liturgy.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.