Typical calendars utilize months, days, and mark unique and commemorative days by name. Just as these calendars are used to determine seasons, celebrations, and the year’s beginning and end, the Liturgical Calendar 2024 serves a similar purpose within the context of the Catholic faith. However, the Liturgical Calendar provides many more resources to expand our spiritual knowledge and experience.
Like the secular annual cycle, the Liturgical Year is also measured in specific seasons—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Septuagesima, Lent, Passion Time, Easter, Pentecost. The Liturgical Year begins on the First Sunday of Advent, which usually falls at the end of November or the beginning of December, and ends on the Last Sunday after Pentecost. However, unlike the secular calendar, the purpose of the Liturgical Calendar is not to mark the passage of time only, but to understand more deeply and to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ, from His Incarnation and Birth through to His Ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the anticipation of His glorious return. During the course of a year, the Church relives the mysteries of Christ’s Redemptive Incarnation through the Sacred Liturgy.