As Catholics we maintain a calendar of the Christian season and we structure it around the life of Christ and the Trinity. Maria Hall provides us with lots of ideas and activities to celebrate our most important seasons and feasts.
As Catholics we maintain a calendar of the Christian season. We structure it around the life of Christ and the Trinity. We also celebrate saints and feast days that are honoured publicly and privately.
The Christian year begins in December on the first Sunday of Advent and continues to the Feast of Christ the King at the end of November of the following year. The key seasons are: Advent to Christmas and Epiphany, Lent to Easter and Ascension to Pentecost.
Throughout the year, while Catholics celebrate the seasons and the feasts, different colours in the liturgical and priestly vestments, church decorations and other symbols help to appreciate the mood and sense of the particular season or feast. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) introduced the colour sequence that we still use today for these seasons and special days to help us identify them easily and prayerfully.
Why do we celebrate and pray for saints and the souls of the dead? Where do these practices originate from? How can they inspire us in our faith today?
It’s vital that we get the balance of the anticipation of Christmas with the spiritual preparation that Advent brings. Here are 12 ways to celebrate Advent in School.
Lent is a rich time in the prayer life of schools but it doesn’t finish at Holy Week. What we do next can immerse us in the Easter words, actions, signs and symbols that can keep the resurrection of Jesus alive.
The Feast of Pentecost is unique in our liturgical year as it is the only observance shared by Jews and Christians. Our commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit is the fulfilment of its Old Testament predecessor.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart recalls the universal truth that Christ saved us through his sufferings, through the wounds he received on the cross.
The Feast of the Trinity is not meant to be a one-off commemoration, but an opportunity to remind, enrich and lead us forward. It is a direct pathway, drawing us to the Father and to our eternal destiny.
