Jeg sitter nå og forbereder messene de neste ukene framover – fram til fasten begynner, 21. februar, i første omgang. Og om nettopp liturgien leste jeg i dag en interessant artikkel på zenit.org, et intervju med benediktineren Juan Javier Flores Arcas, rektor ved det pavelige liturgi-instituttet.
Det første spørsmålet han svarer på, er om det alminnelige kirkeåret, som vi nå er inne i, er en mindre viktig del av kirkeåret. Det svarer han benektenede på, slik: It is not a weak time with respect to the other intense times, as it includes Sundays which are the weekly celebration of Easter, which is at the very origin of the liturgical year. Of itself this time has nothing that makes it inferior to the others.
Ordinary time does not have as object the celebration of a particular mystery of the life of Christ, but the totality of the mystery seen more as a whole than in a particular mystery. They are 33 or 34 weeks which are placed after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and which follow the solemnity of Pentecost.
– How can we describe, exactly, the liturgical year?
Father Flores: The liturgical year can be described as the ensemble of celebrations with which the Church lives annually the mystery of Christ. … The liturgical year is, therefore, the year of the Lord, of the glorious Kyrios, of the risen Christ present in the midst of his Church with the long history that precedes and accompanies him. We relive the covenant, the choice of the holy people and the fullness of messianic times.
In the course of the annual cycle the whole mystery of Jesus Christ unfolds, from the incarnation to the expectation of his second coming at the end of time, culminating with the most important celebration of the year, namely, the memorial of his paschal mystery.
In its various moments, the liturgical year celebrates nothing other than the fullness of this mystery; it has its center in the annual Easter, everything springs from it and everything tends to it.
LES HELE ARTIKKELEN HER.