St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

Christian sacred images, especially liturgical icons, principally represent Christ and express in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates in words. Images of the holy Mother of God and the saints also signify Christ glorified in them, making visible the cloud of witnesses with whom we are united, above all in sacramental celebrations. In our homes and prayer, we can approach these images with reverence, letting their beauty lead us to contemplation. When contemplation of sacred icons is joined to meditation on God’s Word and the singing of liturgical hymns, the mystery we celebrate may be impressed on our hearts and expressed in the new life of the faithful.

The Church celebrates Christ’s saving work in sacred commemorations throughout the year, especially on the Lord’s Day, when she remembers his Resurrection each week, and at Easter, the most solemn of all feasts, when she celebrates his Passion and Resurrection. Like the People of God who observed fixed feasts beginning with Passover, the Church’s celebrations recall God’s saving actions, give thanks, preserve their remembrance, and teach new generations to shape their conduct by them. In these celebrations, the mysteries of redemption open the riches of Christ’s power and merit to the faithful, who receive saving grace. The Church’s prayer is marked by the word “Today,” calling us to enter the living God’s present and the hour of Jesus’ Passover, which reaches through all history. Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly: the faithful gather to hear God’s Word, take part in the Eucharist, remember the Passion, Resurrection, and glory of Jesus, and give thanks to God.

The liturgical year, beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, is filled with the brilliance of Christ’s Resurrection. It is truly a “year of the Lord’s favor,” in which the saving work of God is active in time and the kingdom of God enters into our lives as a foretaste of its fulfillment. Easter stands at the heart of this cycle as the “Feast of feasts,” for the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection, in which he crushed death, permeates the whole year. The feasts of the Incarnation, including the Annunciation, Christmas, and Epiphany, unfold aspects of the one Paschal mystery and communicate its first fruits. As we celebrate these mysteries together, we also honor the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is inseparably linked to her Son’s saving work and is a radiant image of what the Church hopes to become. When the Church remembers martyrs and other saints, she proclaims the Paschal mystery in those who suffered and were glorified with Christ, offering them as examples who draw us to the Father through Christ and begging God’s favors through their merits.