Blessed be God/Devotions For The Seasons Of The Year
DEVOTIONS FOR THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR
ADVENT
The four weeks of Advent are set apart by the Church to commemorate the ages that intervened between the fall of our first parents and the birth of Christ which we celebrate at Christmas. It is a Season of special prayer and penance mingled with joyful expectation, and calculated to fit our souls for a worthy keeping of this great solemnity. Advent is also the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, and as each succeeding year brings us closer to the second coming of Christ as Judge of the world, this holy time is likewise intended to make us ready to meet our Judge.
ANT. Be comforted, be comforted, my people: thy salvation cometh quickly: why with grief art thou consumed? for sorrow hath stricken thee: I will save thee, fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
- V. Drop dew, ye heavens, from above.
- R. And let the clouds rain the Just One.
Let us Pray
O GOD, Who dost gladden us by the annual expectation of our Redemption, grant that we, who now receive with joy Thine only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may behold Him without fear when He comes as our judge, even the same Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.
CHRISTMASTIDE
This joyful season extends from Christmas eve to Septuagesima; and during it the Church is rejoicing over the happiness of possessing its Saviour. It commemorates the birth of our Lord and the manifestations of His divinity which were exhibited in His infancy, the coming of the Magi, His baptism, teaching and miracles.
ANT. Behold the Lord the Ruler is come, and a kingdom in His hand, and power and dominion.
- V. Give to the King Thy judgment, O God.
- R. And to the King’s son Thy justice.
Let us Pray
O GOD, Whose only-begotten Son hath appeared in the substance of our flesh, grant, we beseech Thee, that by Him in Whom, outwardly, we recognize our likeness, we may deserve to be inwardly created anew. Who liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.
SEPTUAGESIMA AND LENT
With Septuagesima the joys of Christmastide are brought to a close. The happy celebration wherein the Church has been recalling the birth of the Redeemer now gives way to a more serious season, in which our attention is directed towards the sorrowful events of the Saviour’s passion and death.
The three weeks from Septuagesima to Lent constitute a period of transition from a time of joy to one of sadness. With Ash Wednesday the great penitential season of the year begins. This time of Lent is marked by three distinctive features: (1) it is a period for serious reflection on death and its issues, joined, consequently, with prayer and works of mortification in imitation of our Saviour’s fast of forty days in the desert; (2) it is a time especially adapted to repentance and amendment of life, as in ancient days it was the season when the Cathechumens and penitents prepared for Baptism and absolution; (3) it is a prolonged vigil, fitting us to celebrate worthily the great week of the passion and the Feast of feasts of the Resurrection.
ANT. O Lord, repay us not according to the sins we have committed or according to our iniquities. O Lord, remember not our former transgressions: let Thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are becoming exceedingly poor.
- V. Help us, O God our Saviour, and for the glory of Thy name, O Lord, deliver us.
- R. And forgive us our sins for Thy name’s sake.
Let us Pray
GRANT, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that chastened by this holy fast, we may be brought with pure hearts to the holy feast which is to come. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PASSIONTIDE
The last two weeks of Lent, beginning with Passion Sunday and terminating with Easter Saturday, form the season which is known as Passiontide. It is really a continuation and the conclusion of Lent. During this time, and especially throughout Holy Week, the Church is picturing to us the scenes of our Saviour’s Passion and death, and inculcating the lessons which these sorrowful events are intended to teach, while praying that we may have a share in the fruits of the Redemption and the joys of the Resurrection.
ANT. It behooves us to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection, by Whom we are saved and delivered.
- V. Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people.
- R. Whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy
Precious Blood.
Let us Pray
O GOD, Whom to love above all is righteousness, multiply in us the gifts of Thy ineffable grace; and since Thou hast given us, in the death of Thy Son, to hope for those things which we believe, grant us in the Resurrection of the same to attain the end to which we aspire. Who liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.
EASTERTIDE
After the forty days of Lent comes the Paschal season, extending from Easter to Trinity Sunday. It commemorates the Resurrection, or Christ’s victory over death, the forty days after the Resurrection, His entrance into glory, and finally, on the fiftieth day, the coming of the Holy Ghost and the birthday of the Church.
ANT. If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Alleluia.
- V. This is the day which the Lord hath made. Alleluia.
- R. Let us be glad and rejoice therein. Alleluia.
Let us Pray
O GOD, Who dost gladden us with the yearly celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection, grant, in Thy mercy, that through the feast which we solemnize in time, we may be worthy to attain to eternal joys. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
