The Catholic Liturgical Year: The Temporal Cycle

 Liturgy and Sacraments Video #8.  In this session, Dr. Italy discusses the history of the Temporal Cycle of the Catholic Liturgical Year which includes Lent, Easter, Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time and the important weekly commemoration of Christ’s passion on Fridays and Resurrection on the Lord’s Day, Sunday.

There is a certain rhythm to both the week and the year in the Catholic liturgical Tradition.  We call this the temporal cycle of the Catholic liturgical year.  Sunday, the Lord’s Day, commemorates the Lord’s resurrection and is the center of the week for Christians much as the Sabbath is the center of the week for Jews.  In a similar way, Easter is the center of the entire liturgical year, and is calculated in tandem with Passover.  The development of Lent and holy week as a prelude to Easter and the entire cycle of the celebration of the Incarnation at Christmas, preceded by Advent, is also discussed here in context of the temporal cycle of the Catholic liturgical year.  This video, number 8 in the Catholic Distance University Liturgy and Sacraments course, explains where the schedule of seasonal or temporal feasts and fasts of the Catholic Liturgical Year come from, what they mean, and why they are so important in Christian life.

This video on the temporal cycle of the Catholic Liturgical year is the eighth session of Theology 552 of the Catholic Distance University course Liturgy and Sacraments by professor Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D., aka “Dr Italy.”

For the previous video (7) in the series on the seasal rhythm of the liturgical year, click here.

For the next video (9) in the series on the sanctoral cycle of the liturgical year, click here.

Banner/featured image of a Catholic priest with arms raised celebrating the Catholic eucharistic liturgy during ordinary time by Simon Berger on Unsplash. Public domain.