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October 11 - October 19, 2024
Three main sections make up the Church Year: the Time of Christmas, the Time of Easter, and the Time of the Church. Each of these main sections of the Church Year tells a part of the salvation story.
The word Advent is from the Latin, meaning “coming into.” The story of Jesus in Advent is the story of hope coming into the world.
This is the message of Epiphany (the word means “revealing”): when the Magi, who were Gentiles, came to worship Jesus, they showed that all people now have access to God because Jesus is the new temple—God in the flesh.
Jesus is baptized into our sins so that our Baptism might be into His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.
To prepare for the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord on Easter Sunday, we take a season of forty days to focus on our need to repent of our sins and our need for a Savior from sin. This season of repentance and preparation is called Lent.
This custom uses the biblical image of ashes (Job 42:6) to remind us that we, too, shall die and therefore need forgiveness from Jesus.
Fasting is giving up eating at a particular meal or time in order to devote that time to prayer and meditation on the Word of God.
The idea behind giving something up for Lent is to be reminded to pray, to study God’s Word, and to think of Jesus’ sacrifice when you miss the thing that you have given up.
We use the Easter greeting. During the Easter season, we greet one another with a special Easter greeting and response: “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Fifty days after Easter, on the Day of Pentecost, the curse of Babel is undone (Genesis 11:1–9). The Spirit of the Lord gives the apostles the gift of preaching the Good News of Jesus in all languages (Acts 2:1–4). All nations are brought together into the Church through Baptism (Acts 2:40–42).
On November 1, the Church decks herself in white and begins to look forward to the end of all things by observing All Saints’ Day. We give thanks for those who have gone before us in the faith and look forward to our reunion with them in the resurrection of the dead.
