Mary's calendar year mirrors Jesus'

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

Marian Calendar Jan. 1: Mary, Mother of God Feb. 2: Presentation of the Lord Feb. 11: Our Lady of Lourdes March 25: The Annunciation April 26: Our Mother of Good Counsel May 24: Our Lady, Help of Christians June 27: Our Lady of Perpetual Help July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Aug. 15: The Assumption Sept. 8: Nativity of Mary Sept. 15: Our Lady of Sorrows Oct. 7: Our Lady of the Rosary Nov. 21: Feast of Mary's Presentation Dec. 8: The Immaculate Conception Dec. 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe

The later half of summer and its anticipation of changing seasons and a new school year is a good time to study the church calendar. Or, for this purpose, the Marian calendar.

The church year - which begins this year in December - is based on the history of salvation: beginning with the anticipation of the Savior (Advent), Jesus' birth, his ministry (Ordinary time), the Lord's Paschal Mystery of redemption (Lent and Holy Week), the fulfillment of all promises (Easter) and the sending forth of all disciples - including us (Ordinary Time).

In our church year, there are also many feasts dedicated to the mother of God - at least one for each month. (And that doesn't count localized celebrations, such at the Feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba - Sept. 8.) This month, we have two: the Assumption (Aug. 15), a holy day of obligation, and Queenship of Mary (Aug. 22).

Many feasts of Mary, especially with the liturgical reforms following Vatican II, are arranged in a way that fits the pattern of the church year.

Pope Paul VI noted this in 1974 when he wrote. "The reform of the Roman liturgy ... distributes throughout the year, the whole mystery of Christ, from the Incarnation to the expectation of his return in glory, and thus makes it possible in a more organized and closely-knit fashion to include the commemoration of Christ's Mother in the annual cycle of the Mysteries of her son" (MC, 2)

So, following the church year of the Lord, we can look at Mary's feasts through the lens of Christ's life, ministry and Paschal Mystery.

During Advent - preparing for Christ's coming in time and at the end of time - we mark the feasts of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), another day of obligation, the patron of the U.S. and Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas (Dec. 12).

• In the first feast, we celebrate the preparation for Christ that took place in the first moment of Mary's life, when she was conceived without sin in anticipation of her divine motherhood. Mary's Immaculate Conception is a longstanding teaching of the church - in the Eastern Church this feast, called the Conception of St. Anne, has been celebrated since the second century. However, the Immaculate Conception was not declared a dogma of the western church until Dec. 8, 1854.

• Guadalupe commemorates the appearance of Mary to Juan Diego on Dec. 9-12, 1531, in Tepeyac Hill in Mexico. The miraculous image of Mary on Juan Diego's cloak shows Mary as pregnant with Jesus.

• The next major feast of Mary is Mother of God, on Jan. 1, another day of obligation. It is also the Octave of Christmas, making it part of the eight day feast of the Nativity. This feast is relatively new - dating to 1931 (celebrated on Oct. 11) and moved to Jan. 1 by Paul VI in 1969. However, Mary's title as the Mother of God (as opposed to being the mother of Jesus' humanity only) has long been a teaching of the Church. The Council of Nicea in 431 declared it as dogma, after years of heated debate in the early church.

• In February, we move to one of the shared feasts of Mary and her son: the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem. Previously this was also called the feast of the Purification of Mary. Today, the feast is held to commemorate God's appearance to his people as savior - announced through Simeon and Anna - and also foretells his sufferings and his mother's accompanying sorrows.

• March is a month that contains all or some of Lent, the season of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, and the time when Jesus' work of salvation comes to fruition. In this month, we also have two Marian feasts: the Annunciation (March 25) and the Visitation (March 31). In both, we can see how Mary - often called the perfect disciple - is attentive to the Word of God spoken to her. She then takes that word - the child in her womb - to others, in the persons of Elizabeth and her unborn child, John.

• While there are not any major feasts of Mary from April through July - there are minor ones, and feasts of Christ in which she is present, reminding us of her cooperation in the work of salvation. So we see Mary at the cross on Good Friday, and gathered in prayer with the disciples on the feast of Pentecost. We also have the memorial feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which used to fall on Aug. 22 but was moved after Vatican II to the day following the feast of Jesus' Sacred Heart.

• Just as the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ reveal to all the promise of eternal life and perfection through Christ, the August feasts of his mother reveal that promise fulfilled in Mary. Her Assumption - body and soul - is a tradition dating back to the sixth century. It was declared an infallible teaching by Pope Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950.

As Pope Paul VI said, the Assumption (and the feast of her Queenship one week later that "prolongs that feast") "sets before the eyes of the church and of all humanity the image and consoling proof of the fulfillment of their final home" (MC, 6).

• September returns to less major feasts of Mary that nonetheless follow her life's mission to serve God: the feast of her birth (Sept. 8), the memorial of her sorrows (Sept. 15), a memorial of her ongoing mission of prayer for our world through the Rosary (Oct. 7), and the celebration of her own childhood presentation at the Temple (Nov. 21).

Observing the calendar of Mary - which only points the way to the liturgical calendar of the life and work of her son - guides the church as it seeks to walk that path of Jesus. Mary's life is a model in walking that path.

As Vatican II said, "the Mother of Jesus ... is the image and beginning of the church as it is to be perfected in the world to come" (Lumen Gentium, 68).