9781644135945

Introduction
“Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light,
and kings in the brightness of thy rising” (Is 60:1–3). This Jerusalem is our Holy Mother the
Church of the New Covenant. She is the city of light, filled with the magnificence of Christ, the
supernatural Sun who enlightens her. We enter this Holy City by liturgical prayer and liturgical
offerings, for we desire to be filled with her light.
“But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18). Piety may be called
liturgical when its attention is fixed on the splendor of Christ. Such piety is occupied with
the thought of what Christ is, what He has done for us, and what He continues to do for
us. It expresses itself in acts of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. It is ever conscious of
the fact that the Father has given us and continues to give us all that He has, in the person
of His only-begotten Son. It knows that Christ lives in us, and that in Him we can do all
things (Phil 4:13).
Liturgical piety is a piety which delights in God and His providence, and which for this
reason is confident of victory. It is attuned to the sentiment expressed by the Apostle, writing
to the Romans: “If God be for us, who is against us? He that spared not even His own Son but
delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also with Him given us all things? . . . Who then
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness?
or danger? or persecution? or the sword? . . . In all these things we overcome because of Him
that hath loved us” (Rom 8:31 ff.). If we thus keep our attention fixed on the face of the Lord
when celebrating the holy liturgy, we ourselves shall be illuminated by the brilliance which
proceeds from Him.
The present work is intended to increase the reader’s acquaintance with the feasts of the Church
and with her teaching as found in the missal, so that these may become a fruitful background
for mental prayer, and a help and protection for Christian life. The doctrine and inspiration of
the Mass and of the Mass formulas are inexhaustible. What we offer here is merely an attempt
to direct and stimulate investigation on the part of the reader. We are under no delusion that
we have exhausted the subject.
Following the liturgical sequence freely and without constraint, we have carefully refrained
from attempting to force the thoughts and teachings found in the texts of the Mass into a prearranged
scheme or into a system of the spiritual life. We have simply allowed ourselves to be
guided and instructed by the liturgy, that is, by the praying and offering Church, and we rest
satisfied that we are thus following the right way and that we are receiving wholesome spiritual
nourishment.
We treat of the Sunday Masses and also of the weekday Masses. The feast days belonging
to the structure of the ecclesiastical year and likewise certain important feasts of the Blessed
Mother and of the saints are also included.
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