Liturgical Year
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
NOT a Holy Day of Obligation in 2024
Wednesday, December 25, 2023 – The Nativity of the Lord [Christmas]
**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
Fax: 973-497-4314.
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
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 Communal Penance Service (pages 5-23)
Lent
The Apostles Creed During Lent and Easter
Proclamation of the Passion in Parts
Lenten Communal Penance Service
Doing it Rite: The Saints During Lent
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
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
- Preparing “The Three” of the Triduum
- Questions on The Easter Triduum – Word on Worship Issue
- Eucharist and the Triduum
- Morning Office During the Triduum
- Instruction on the Proper Care and Use of the Holy Oils
Holy Thursday
- Mass of the Lord’s Supper
- Reception of the Holy Oils
- 2016 Decree Mass of the Lord’s Supper Foot Washing
Good Friday
Easter Vigil
- Questions on the Easter Vigil
- Ministers of Initiation
- Service of Light
- Liturgy of the Word
- Liturgy of Baptism
- Liturgy of Eucharist
- Renewal of Baptism Promises
Easter