Liturgical Highlights: New Year, and Transition of the Seasons

By Jennifer Gregory Miller ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 02, 2024 | In The Liturgical Year

I’ve been really quiet in my writing in my column the past few months. My New Year resolutions includes writing more. I usually hate to pin myself down, but I have made a few resolutions. A few years ago I wrote about Fitting Resolutions. It helps me to see a more spiritual reason for making some changes.

After a restful vacation, I’m starting the year with a look at the upcoming liturgically jam-packed week:

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How Long is the Christmas season?

The month of January and the first two days of February are a time of controversy and confusion among some Catholics, all stemming from the question, “How long is the Christmas season?” Answers include terms such as “days of Christmas,” “Christmas octave,” “Christmas season,” “Christmastide,” and “Time after Epiphany,” but more often it’s an answer of keeping the Church’s old tradition of the Christmas season until February 2.

I discussed this at length in my posts:

• Christmas to Candlemas: When is the Real End of the Christmas Season
• The End of Christmas: Dispelling the Misconceptions

If in doubt, look through old missals and see what the liturgical color is for the different feasts and Sundays. Green indicates Tempus per Annum or Ordinary Time (Time after Epiphany and Time after Pentecost) even in the older calendars, and the green vestments begin after the Baptism of the Lord. This year is an example of Septuagesima beginning January 28, which occurs before February 2nd. There can’t be two liturgical seasons occurring simultaneously.

We also need to remember that while we like symmetry, the Liturgical Calendar is “built” around the Paschal Mystery, with it being the center, the core of the Liturgical Year. The Paschal Season should express that emphasis, even by having longer periods of preparation and celebration. The Cycles of Christmas and Easter shouldn’t be exactly parallel with that viewpoint.

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When does Ordinary Time begin?

And within the above are the questions of how many Sundays are in the Christmas season, and is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord a Christmas feast or not?

• The document General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar governs the Liturgical Calendar.
• See also Father Felix Just, S.J.’s table giving an overview of the movable feasts of the Christmas season.

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The Last Week of the Christmas Season

Before Epiphany and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, this week is packed with many saints’ days, particularly for those of us who live in the United States and Canada.

• Memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregorian Nazianzen.

  Why are these Bishops and Doctors of the Church paired together? The writings of St. Gregory excerpted in the Second Reading from the Office of Readings explains.

• Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

  The Most Holy Name of Jesus was restored to the calendar by Pope St. John Paul II. In places such as Paris, this is the Feast of St. Genevieve, the patron of Paris. It’s been said that Jennifer is a form of Genevieve, so I consider this my nameday.

• Optional Memorial of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton celebrated in the United States and Canada.

  We can thank St. Elizabeth for her influence on and organization of Catholic education in America.

  If you are ever nearby, a visit to the National Shrine of Elizabeth Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland is worth the trip. Also take a side trip to the National Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.

• Optional Memorial of St. John Neumann celebrated in the United States.

  Bishop Neumann accomplished so much in only 24 years for the early Catholics in America. He also worked hard to offer Catholic education in America by establishing parish schools.

• Optional Memorial of St. André Bessette is celebrated in the United States (and in Canada is the following day).

  St. André lived and worked in Montreal. He was very humble, did not call attention to himself, but God had other plans, as many cures of the sick were worked through St. André.

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Epiphany of the Lord—Twelfth Day of Christmas?

I have heard of the “12 Days of Christmas” but I never can make the count come out correctly. No matter how I try to count it, the 12th Day of Christmas always seems to be January 5, not January 6, the traditional feast of Epiphany.

The real “days of Christmas” are actually in the Octave of Christmas, and that always ends on the eighth day. Liturgically, after January 1st, these are days of the Christmas season. After the Christmas Octave, the days are designated “of Christmas Time,” and have different readings depending on whether the day is before or after Epiphany. And if we are counting the “days of Christmas” within the season, why does the song end at twelve?

Regardless, it’s time to prepare for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, a feast of Manifestation:

• Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
• The Octave of Christmas
• Celebrating Epiphany and the Christmas Season
• Epiphany Home Blessing

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The Last Day of Christmas

We end Christmas season with a Feast, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It marks Jesus entering into His public ministry, as we must do, also.

• Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
• Our Ordinary Walk of Life: Understanding “Tempus per Annum”
• Our Work in Ordinary Time