Dear sisters and brothers,

Before calendars were readily available, there was an ancient practice of announcing on the feast of the Epiphany the dates of the upcoming feasts of the new year. Granted that the feast of the Epiphany has come and gone, it is still a helpful to know the dates of the central feasts of the year. Traditionally, the proclamation was given after the reading of the Epiphany Gospel and served to remind the People of God that Easter Sunday is the centre-point of our yearly cycle.

Easter shifts each year because the dating of Easter follows the lunar calendar. Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the autumn equinox (21st March). For this reason, many other important feasts also move each year. From this Sunday, we begin a short burst of Ordinary Time before Lent begins in early February. Ordinary Time does not mean “ordinary” in the everyday sense of the term, but refers to ordinal numbers, as in counted time; e.g. 2nd Sunday, 3rd Sunday and so on. On this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, let us get our bearings for the year ahead with this traditional proclamation of the great feasts of the year:

Know, dear brothers and sisters, that, as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, so by of God’s mercy we announce to you also the joy of his Resurrection,
the celebration of the Paschal festival and its feasts.

On the tenth day of February will fall Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the most sacred Lenten season.

On the twenty-seventh day of March we will celebrate with joy Easter Day, the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the eighth day of May will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the fifteenth day of May, the feast of Pentecost.

On the twenty-ninth day of May, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

On the twenty-seventh day of November, the First Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

Mark your diaries!

Fr Anthony