The Liturgical Year Actualises the Mystery of Christ

  • Bogusław Migut John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
Keywords: the liturgical year, mystery (mysterium) of Christ, mysteria of Christ, paschal mysterium, the Eucharist, Triduum sacrum, Sunday, salvific preaching, sacramental actualization of salvation

Abstract

The Liturgical year actualises the mystery of Christ. This follows from the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ, and at the same time from His mysterious being. Jesus Christ is the mysterium of God. In His, starting from the mysterium of incarnation, through particular mysteria of his life on earth up to the paschal mysterium, God saved humankind and revealed His unity in the Trinity. The mysterium of salvation that is combined with the internal life of the Holy Trinity. It is continued in the Church and for the Church. This continuation takes place in two ways: preaching – preaching the mysterium of Christ and its sacramental actualisation. The Liturgical year is a concrete context of celebration, and it is itself a celebration of the whole of the mysterium of Christ (the sacrament or else the sacramentale of the liturgical year) in reference to the longer period of man’s life. Its centre is the paschal mysterium of Christ. The Eucharist is an important tie of the liturgical year. It constitutes not only the centre of celebrations in the liturgical year, but its theological contents are, so to say, repeated all over the liturgical year. The liturgical year combines in itself preaching the mysterium of Christ (the Gospel) and its sacramental actualisation. It confers on the preaching of the word of God a more profound sacramental dimension – the actualisation of salvific events.

Published
2021-02-10