Lesson 14

The Importance of Different Seasons

                           Christians are called for living with a messianicexperience partaking in the mysteries of Jesus' life sothat they may secure the consequent heavenly bliss.The time-bound commemoration and observance of allthese salvific events consummated in Jesus and a lifesuiting to their spirit, no doubt, would transform us to trueChristians. On the basis of the importance of the eventsin the history of salvation, the liturgical year is divided into nine seasons:

Annunciation:The season of preparation for the birth of Jesus. Nativity The season commemorating the birth of Jesus. EpiphanyThe season focusing on His baptism.Lent The season of the forty-day fasting, passion and death of Jesus. Easter: The season recalling the resurrection and  ascension.Apostles:The descent of the Holy Spirit and the activities of the Church. Summer:period of the growth of the Church Elijah-Cross-MosesTo recall the Transfiguration and the Second Coming Dedication of the Church The period to consecrate the Church, Jesus' bride to his Father.

             In order to impart the spirit of each season to the faithful, the prayers (propria) ofthe holy Qurbana and the divine office are arranged accordinglTogrow in the messianicexperience, we must live according to the spirit of the different periods of the liturgical year.That is the reason why theChurchteacheusto resort to spiritual exercises eitheremanating from the liturgical practices or agreeable to them.

Annunciation

                                 The liturgical year starts with Annunciation. This period is planned to prepare for the birth of Christ fallingon 25th December. This period is so arranged that thereare four Sundays before Christmas; and the 25-dayfasting prior to Christmas is from 1st to 25th December. InSyriac, this period is known as 'Subbara', meaning the'period of announcements'. The announcement byangel Gabriel to Blessed Virgin Mary was a welcomeone to the people awaiting their redeemer. Theunconditional love of God for us, despite our sinfulness,is revealed through Christmas. We must repay this loveof God by loving God and man unconditionally.

                                 The main topics we meditate upon during this period are the announcement aboutthe birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, the birth of John, the creation of man,the disobedience of our forefathers and the consequences, the deplorable state of thefallen man, the promise of redemption by God, the covenant of God with man, and theprophesies about the redeemer. The Church specially reminds us of the negative aspects ofsin. To receive the redeemer, repentance and penance are essential. During this period, weremember, in a special way, Blessed Virgin Mary who cooperated wholeheartedly with themystery of salvation; prayers and hymns in honour of Virgin Mary are special features of the period.

Nativity

Epiphany (Denha)

                     In this period, we specially remember the baptism and the public life of Jesus. Thisperiod starts with the feast of Epiphany celebrated on 6th January. The Church has thecelebrated the feast of Epiphany, since the second century. In Syriac, the word 'Denha'means the sun-rise/ manifestation. During the baptismof Jesus, the sonship of Jesus as well as the revelationof the mystery of the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Sonand the Holy Spirit was revealed to man; we rememberthese events at this feast. Jesus revealed himself duringthe public life that followed his baptism. The spirit of thisperiod exhorts us to bear witness to Christ, who revealedGod's love wandering all over and doing good to others,and to repay His love. On all the Fridays of this season,we commemorate all those apostles and saints whorevealed Jesus to the world. We pray for the dead on the last Friday of this period.

Lent

                                  The season of Lent consists of seven weeks,the days to prepare for Easter, the central event of theliturgical year. This season starts remembering Jesuswho frustrated the temptations of Satan. This season isspecially allotted to meditate on the mysteries of Jesus'passion and death, besides engaging in doing penancefor our sins. The 40-day fasting by Jesus mentioned inthe Holy Scripture is the basis for this season of Lent.The first Sunday of this season is known as 'Pethurtha'which means, in Syriac , 'look back'. Our Churchobserves 50-day fasting from midnight of PethurthaSunday until Easter Sunday.We remember, during this season, events suchas the sin of man and its after-effects, the need forrepentance and change of mind, the inestimable loveand mercy of God to the repentant sinner, and themysteries of the passion and death of Jesus. Thisseason exhorts us to resort to fasting, prayer andgenerosity and thus restore power to outlive the ways ofevil following the footsteps of Jesus who outlived the ntemptations and offered himself to God.

Easter

                                 Easter, the most important feast of this season,is the central event of the liturgical year. This seasonpersuades us to participate in the new life secured byJesus with his resurrection, and to enjoy it.This season has seven weeks extending from the feast of Easter up to the Pentecost. Heaven was opened by the resurrection of Jesus and consequently thesaints entered heaven; and so, the Feast of All Saints is celebrated on the first Friday afterEaster. The second Sunday after Easter is known as the New Sunday or the Sunday of St.Thomas. We commemorate on this Sunday the proclamation of faith by apostle Thomas whenhe saw the resurrected Jesus. The first week of this season is called the 'Week of Weeks'.

                                     The resurrection of Jesus assures our resurrection. “If Christ has not been raised, thenour proclamation has been in vain” (1Cor.15:14). “Do you not know that all of us who have beenbaptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). The season of Easterexhorts us to cherish every moment of our life incorporating the death and resurrection of Jesus, and transform ourselves into the realm of those who are dead to sin and live in Jesus.

Apostles

                             this season starts with the feast of Pentecost. We are expected to meditate during thisseason on the descent of the Holy Spirit , the relation between the apostles and the Church, thespirit of the ancient Church, the missionary nature of the Church etc. The official inauguration ofthe Church was on the day of the Pentecost. Only after the Pentecost the apostles,  inspired by the Holy Spirit, went allover the world with the message of thegospel and laid the foundation for thedifferent communities of the Church.The meaning of the word 'sliha' inSyriac is 'one who is sent'. We whoeceived baptism and chrismation arealso sent just like the apostles. Thisseason reminds us that we must bewitnesses to Christ by engaging in the apostolic mission of the Church

Summer (Kaitha)

                                 The seven weeks after the season of Apostles isknown as the season of summer. 'Kaitha' in Syriaclanguage means the summer, the season of harvest.; itis also known as the season of fruits. Here, we recall howthe tree of the Church being rooted with the hard work ofthe apostles and spreading itself far and wide in theworld, begot many saints and martyrs, and flourishes .The season starts with the feast of the twelve apostleswho were the foundation for the growth of the Church.All those saints who suffered martyrdom for the growth of the Church are commemoratedon the Fridays of this season. All the children of the Church should try to attain an interest and vigour to work for the growth of the Church.

Elijah - Cross - Moses

                                   The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross celebrated on 14th September is the centralevent of this season .We meditate on the glorious second coming of Jesus with the sign ofthe cross and escorted by the angels, the end of the world and the Last Judgement. TheChurch, now, prays for the blessing to welcome Jesus joining with the saints. This seasonexhorts us to be vigilant against the temptations of thedevil and wait for the second coming of Jesus, settingourselves free of sins. Moses and Elijah who appearedwith Jesus at his Transfiguration are alsocommemorated during this season. The Transfigurationof Jesus is actually the symbol of his second coming.Moses is the symbol of the law and Elijah of the prophets.The ancient Church believed that Elijah would comebefore the second coming of Jesus (Mal. 4:5) and afteran argument with the son of ruination would reveal his mistake to the world.

Dedication of the Church

                 The last four weeks of the liturgical yearconstitute this season. This is the season when we recallJesus dedicating the Church, his bride, to God ondoomsday. The feast of the first week of this season isknown as the feast of the Dedication of the Church. Thisseason helps us to meditate more on the Church and toconfigure ourselves with the Church moving heavenward

Liturgical Year and the Liturgy of Hours

The mystery of Christ, his Incarnation and Passover, which we celebrate in theEucharist, especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the timeof each day through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, 'the divine praises'.This celebration, faithful to the apostolic exhortations to pray constantly, is soplanned that the whole course of day and night is made holy by the praise of God. Inhis public prayer of the Church, the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people)exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. As it is celebrated in the form approvedby the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours is truly the voice of a bride conversing with herbridegroom. It is the very prayer of Jesus together with his body to hisFather.(Catechism of the Catholic Church.1174).

LET US

READ AND MEDITATE THE WORD OF GOD

Let us Pray

Teachings of the Fathers of the Church