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What Is The Purpose of the Liturgical Year?
 To
the left you will notice a link titled "On
Liturgical Cycles". This was a humorous talk
I gave in one church several years ago, but does help to
explain how the cycles work.
The supreme
purpose for which all things exist is to show forth and to increase the glory of
our great God. Accordingly, the chief purpose of the liturgy and of the
Liturgical Year is to glorify God, to offer a full and varied homage to the Most
High. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass – the chief act of Catholic worship and the
very heart of the liturgy, renders this homage and glory to God in the highest
degree.
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To
instruct and sanctify the faithful.
At the same
time that the liturgy gives glory to God, it instructs us in what we must
believe and do in order to fulfill the purpose for which we were created. The
Liturgical Year unfolds in sequence, first, a panorama of the period of hopeful
waiting for the coming of Christ, the promised Redeemer; then it presents the
life of Christ in its historical development from His birth to His resurrection;
and lastly, the continuation of His life work in the Church, His Mystical Body.
Another
purpose of the liturgy is to bind us together with one another with God in a
magnificent unity. If we live the liturgical life of the Church, we pray and act
with Christ and with His Church. We are never alone for we become a part of the
activity of the grandest organization on earth—the Mystical body of Christ, of
which Christ is the head and the Holy Spirit, is the life-giving soul. We become
truly a priestly people, co-operating with Christ in His priestly work.
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