Excerpt from Catholic Ceremonies and Explanation of the Ecclesiastical Year To-day the sacred Offices are abandoned by a great number; those who still frequent them find them too long, and, for the majority, the sanctification of Sunday is limited to a simple Low Mass. Whence comes this difference 2 The former understood the beauties of the worship, the mysteries of the liturgy, and the latter, like the idols of which the prophet speaks, have eyes, but see not, and ears, yet hear not. If he who has written these pages attains his end, Sion shall see her ways less deserted upon her solemn feasts the sacred offices will be better understood; and then, in the holy place, each look shall become a prayer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The liturgy of the Catholic Church is the action by which Jesus Christ unites the members of the Church in glorifying God. It makes people holy through words, music, action and signs. The Eucharist is intended to be the most powerful means of union with our God, with the saints in heaven and with each other, and is to be a foretaste of the praise of God given in joy by the saints in heaven. As we move through the whole of the year, the Church is united with the mysteries of Christ's earthly life so as to come closer to her Lord and Saviour. Monsignor Peter Elliott provides scholarship and many years' experience and love of the liturgy. His previous work Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite has helped many people to celebrate our liturgy with attention and devotion. This present work is a guide to the most important moments of the Church year from Advent and Christmas to Holy Week, Corpus Christi and to the Solemnity of Christ the King. His book has been a long-awaited guide to those who wish to celebrate the events of the Church year with dignity, devotion, and deep faith. "Monsignor Elliot is one of the most insightful and reliable liturgists writing today. The rubrics of the Roman Rite are not self-explaining, but with Elliot's work safely in reach, a generation of liturgists raised without a rich training in tradition can confidently approach the Ritual and be more respectful of the faithful's fundamental right to sound worship." -Dr. Edward Peters Institute for Pastoral Theology, Ave Maria University

Jesus’ saving Paschal work continues today in the liturgy and sacraments. They have the power to sanctify and beatify those who engage the liturgy with proper minds and hearts. In this comprehensive and accessible book, Christopher Carstens opens up the ritual elements mystagogically: that is, he leads participants from what they can sense—a calendar day, a musical instrument, and word—to what is otherwise undetectable: Jesus Christ. He examines the core meaning of each liturgical element in creation, in the culture, in the Old Testament, in Christ, and in heaven. This book is an excellent resource for pastors, seminarians, permanent deacons and deacon candidates, lay ministers, and parish liturgy coordinators.

A comprehensive history of the Catholic Church from its beginnings in Jesus' ministry to its current status in an increasingly secular world.

This one-volume survey of the history of the Catholic Church--from its beginning through the pontificate of John Paul II--explains the Church's progress by using Christopher Dawson's division of the Church's history into six distinct "ages," or 350-400 year periods of time.

A journey of the soul through the map of Christian time. The liturgical year, beginning on the first Sunday of Advent and carrying through the following November, is the year that sets out to attune the life of the Christian to the life of Jesus, the Christ. What may at first seem to be simply an arbitrary arrangement of ancient holy days, or liturgical seasons, this book explains their essential relationship to one another and their ongoing meaning to us today. It is an excursion into life from the Christian perspective, from the viewpoint of those who set out not only to follow Jesus but to live and think as Jesus did. And it proposes to help us to year after year immerse ourselves into the sense and substance of the Christian life until, eventually, we become what we say we are—followers of Jesus all the way to the heart of God. It is an adventure in human growth; it is an exercise in spiritual ripening. A volume in the eight book classic series, The Ancient Practices, with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor.