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Liturgical Year

February 1, 2024 // Worship Office Updates

Here you will find information and resources regarding the Liturgical Year. Each section provides information about the specific part of the year. We hope that this information will further your knowledge and understanding of our calendar year and the importance of each season.

Liturgical Year

Holy Days of Obligation 2024

Monday, January 1, 2024 – Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God
NOT a Holy Day of Obligation in 2024*

Thursday, August 15, 2024 – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Friday, November 1, 2024 – All Saints

Monday, December 9, 2024 – The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary**

Wednesday, December 25, 2024 – The Nativity of the Lord [Christmas]

*Whenever January 1, or August 15, or November 1 falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated. (This decree of the Conference of Bishops was approved and confirmed by the Apostolic See by a decree of the Congregation for Bishops (Prot. N. 296/84), signed by Bernardin Cardinal Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation, and dated July 4, 1992. The effective date of this decree for all the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America was January 1, 1993.)

**Earlier this year [2024], Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, wrote to the Holy See seeking clarification about the obligation to attend Mass when a holy day of obligation in Advent, Lent, or Easter falls on Sunday and the Solemnity is transferred to Monday. In a memo to the U.S. bishops dated Thursday, October 10, Bishop Paprocki communicated the Dicastery for Legislative Text’s response: “the feast must be observed as a day of obligation on the day to which it is transferred.” In light of this new directive, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Monday, December 9, 2024 is to be observed as a holy day of obligation.

***The Latin-rite Diocesan Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Newark (i.e. the State of New Jersey) have joined most of the country in permanently assigning the observance of the Ascension of the Lord to the Seventh Sunday of Easter. In 2024, it is therefore transferred to Sunday, May 12, 2024. Thursday, May 9, 2024 is the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter.

If you have any questions, please contact the Worship Office 973-497-4345.

Calendar Updates

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

Memorial – May 8
Mass Prayers

The Ascension of the Lord

Solemnity – Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 12, 2024)
The Latin-rite Diocesan Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Newark (i.e. the State of New Jersey) have joined most of the country in permanently assigning the observance of the Ascension of the Lord to the Seventh Sunday of Easter. In 2024, it is therefore transferred to Sunday, May 12, 2024. Thursday, May 9, 2024 is the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter.
Reflection on the Ascension of the Lord

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Memorial – Monday after Pentecost (May 20, 2024)
Readings

Saint Mary Magdalene

Feast – July 22
On June 3, 2016, the Holy See raised the liturgical rank of the Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene to a Feast, with the date remaining on July 22. A new Preface before the Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast was also promulgated in Latin. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments confirmed the English translation of the Preface for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene on September 21, 2019.

The Directives and Preface of Saint Mary Magdalene (Apostle to the Apostles) are available here.

Saint Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Memorial – July 29
On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar, to replace the existing celebration of Saint Martha alone.

Additional information, including the interim texts, is available from the USCCB here.

Our Lady of Loretto

Optional Memorial – December 10
Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Our Lady of Loreto into the General Roman Calendar.

Services of Prayer, Recognition and Hope

Behold the Wood of the Cross – A Service of Prayer, Recognition and Hope (participation aid)
Behold the Wood of the Cross – A Service of Prayer, Recognition and Hope (presider’s text)

Longing for Light – We Wait in Darkness (participation aid)
Longing for Light – We Wait in Darkness (presider’s text)

Create In Me A Clean Heart, O God (participation aid)
Create in Me A Clean Heart, O God (presider’s text)

Liturgical Principles and the Roman Calendar

Liturgical Principles and the Roman Calendar

Advent and Christmas

Advent Calendar English or Spanish

Finding Christ in Advent

Christmas and Children’s Liturgy of the Word

Excerpt on Popular Piety and the Christmas Feasts from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments)

Christmas Beyond Children
Christmas is not a feast about a child primarily for children. It is the feast of the child “destined for the rise and fall of many” (Luke 2:34), the redemption of Israel.

Advent Wreath

Christmas Crèche

Advent Communal Penance Service (pages 5-23)

English | Spanish

Lent

The Apostles Creed During Lent and Easter

Proclamation of the Passion in Parts

The Chrism Mass

Lenten Communal Penance Service

Reconciliation Services

Doing it Rite: The Saints During Lent

Holy Water Receptacles

On the Distribution of Ashes to Children

On the Distribution of Ashes to Catechumens

The Veiling of Images and Statues

Holy Week


Instruction on the Proper Care and Use of the Holy Oils

The Roman Missal and Presentation of the Oils

Holy Oils Distribution

Notes on the Liturgy: Proclaiming the Passion

Easter Triduum

Time of the Easter Vigil

Regarding the time of The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, the entirety of the celebration of this Mass “must take place during the night (noctu), so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday.” In its 1988 Circular Letter Concerning Preparation and Celebration of Easter Feasts, the Congregation for Divine Worship made clear that “this rule is to be taken according to its strictest sense. Reprehensible are those abuses and practices which have crept in in many places in violation of this ruling, whereby the Easter Vigil is celebrated at the time of day that it is customary to celebrate anticipated Sunday Masses.” Within the Archdiocese of Newark, the Easter Vigil should not begin before 8:15pm. There is to be only one celebration of the Easter Vigil, and no Masses are permitted prior to the Easter Vigil.

If you have any questions, please contact the Worship Office 973-497-4345
Fax: 973-497-4314.

About the Triduum

Holy Thursday

Good Friday

Easter Vigil

Easter

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