What this Section Contains
This section on the liturgical year contains information about the seasons, feasts, and saints along with suggested prayers, activities and recipes to help make the liturgical year come alive in your domestic church.
The material is from a variety of resources, with some adaptations to reflect the liturgical changes since Vatican II. All material is organized by category, age, difficulty and country of origin. There may be several entries of a similar idea, so that one can compare the recipe or activity. All of the material may be adapted for use by an individual, a family or even a large group, though most entries are geared toward family use. Some further general points:
- Recipes lean heavily toward desserts or
sweets because they have been traditionally a mark of festivity. Recipes
associated with a feast have been included; where no specific recipe
is cited, then one may prepare a recipe from that saint’s country
or culture.
- Activities are
drawn from the rich source of traditional customs practiced
by Catholics in many different cultures, times and places.
Some traditional activities have not been included either because they
are associated with practices that border on the superstitious, or because
they were inconsistent with the Directory on Popular Piety and the
Liturgy (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments).
- Traditional Prayers and blessings from
both the old and the new Roman Rituals (Book of Blessings) have been included for comparison use only. The guidelines in the current Enchiridion on Indulgences have been applied to all the prayers.
- Musical materials are also provided. At present, these contain text only, but in the future, musical notation and even some recordings will be included.