Why Does the Church Celebrate "Seasons"?

Liturgical seasons are days and weeks set aside on the Church calendar for ongoing celebration of events in salvation history. The Church has these seasons to extend celebration of important events in the life of our Lord through time.  

In General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, released after Vatican II by the Congregation for Divine Worship, the CDW said of Easter: “The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one ‘great Sunday’” (22). In other words, Easter isn’t just one day, but fifty days, stretching across seven Sundays to Pentecost. This document also states, 

During the different seasons of the liturgical year, the Church, in accord with traditional discipline, carries out the formation of the faithful by means of devotional practices, both interior and exterior, instruction, and works of penance and mercy (1). 

This extension of celebration or commemoration through time is true of other liturgical seasons as well. On the modern liturgical calendar, the Christmas season extends from December 25 to the commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord. Although many modern Christians celebrate Christmas for just one day in December, the Church celebrates it well into January. 

Another purpose for liturgical seasons is to extend worship of God through time. The shortest of the Church’s liturgical seasons is the Holy Triduum, the last three days of Holy Week preceding Easter. If you listen closely at the end of the liturgies on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, you’ll note that there isn’t a dismissal. The celebrant doesn’t say, “The Mass is ended, go in peace,” as is done after most Masses throughout the liturgical year.  

Mass isn’t celebrated on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, which could account for the lack of dismissal from Mass, but the reason for the lack of dismissal from liturgies during the Triduum is because the liturgies of the Triduum (Mass on Holy Thursday, a Communion service on Good Friday) are considered components of one great liturgy that extends three days until beginning of the Easter Vigil on the evening of Holy Saturday. We leave and return to church during these days, but the worship is all part of one great three-day commemoration of the passion, crucifixion, and death of our Lord. When the Easter Vigil begins, the seasonal celebration shifts to commemoration of Jesus’ resurrection. 

Another purpose for liturgical seasons is preparation for the celebration of events in salvation history. We’ll look at Advent and Lent in more detail in answers 5 and 6, but we can note here that these seasons give the faithful time to prepare for Christmas and Easter through acts of penance, acts of mercy, and the reception of the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist. 

But why should we need to “prepare” for holy days? Isn’t that rather scrupulous—perhaps an act that shows we don’t think we’re “worthy” to celebrate the holy days? 

It’s human nature to take time in advance to prepare for important events. A few examples: a pregnant woman often spend the last few months before the birth of her child by “nesting” (preparing her home for the child’s arrival); engaged couples often take months to prepare for their wedding day; in the United States, politicians can spend months and even years preparing for state and federal elections. In these cases, the preparation spotlights the importance of the events to come. Analogously, Christians prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection through prayer, self-sacrifice, communal worship, and communal penance. 

Finally, liturgical seasons can also be used to deepen our devotion to Christ himself. We’ll look at Ordinary Time in more detail in answer 7, but we can note here that its purpose is not to celebrate a specific event in Christ’s life, but is to foster devotion to “the mystery of Christ in all its aspects” (General Norms 43). The season generally lasts for thirty-three weeks, which corresponds to the traditional age Christ is believed to have been at the end of his public ministry. 

These celebrations across days and seasons of the Church’s liturgical calendar aren’t merely external works of the Church. Rather, they are expressions of “sacred memory”: 

Christ’s saving work is celebrated in sacred memory by the Church on fixed days throughout the year. Each week on the day called the Lord’s Day the Church commemorates the Lord’s resurrection. Once a year at Easter the Church honors this resurrection and passion with the utmost solemnity. In fact, through the yearly cycle the Church unfolds the entire mystery of Christ and keeps the anniversaries of the saints (General Norms 1). 

Advent is a season of preparation. Stock your home, parish, or small group with 25 of our most requested booklets—everything from prophecy and miracles to prayer, the Rosary, and the Eucharist. Keep a few, gift the rest, and help someone take a step closer to Christ before Christmas.