THE LITURGICAL YEAR
The Purpose of the Liturgical Year
"To glorify God"
The supreme purpose for which all things exist is to show forth and to increase the glory
of our great God. Accordingly, the chief purpose of the liturgy and of the Liturgical Year
is to glorify God, to offer a full and varied homage to the Most High. This homage and
glory is rendered to God in the highest degree by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass –
the chief act of Catholic worship and the very heart of the liturgy.
"To instruct and sanctify the faithful."
At the same time that the liturgy gives glory to God, it instructs us in what we must
believe and do in order to fulfill the purpose for which we were created. The Liturgical
Year unfolds in sequence, first, a panorama of the period of hopeful waiting for the
coming of Christ, the promised Redeemer; then it presents the life of Christ in its
historical development from His birth to His resurrection; and lastly, the continuation of
His life work in the Church, His Mystical Body.
"To bind in unity."
Another purpose of the liturgy is to bind us together with one another with God in a
magnificent unity. If we live the liturgical life of the Church, we pray and act with
Christ and with His Church. We are never alone for we become a part of the activity of the
grandest organization on earth—the Mystical body of Christ, of which Christ is the
head and the Holy Spirit is the life-giving soul. We become truly a priestly people,
co-operating with Christ in His priestly work.
IN SUMMARY
In summary, the Liturgical Year is a guidebook mapped out and illustrated by our Holy
Mother Church. It directs our worship of God, teaches the sublime truths and mysteries of
our Faith, and guides and strengthens us by grace to follow Christ in the pathway of
holiness leading to the supreme goal. In other words, the Liturgical Year is at one and
the same time –the Church praying to God, the Church instructing the
world, and the Church sanctifying her members.
LITURGICAL YEAR INDEX
