Holy Days: Meditations on the Feasts, Fasts, and Other Solemnities of the Church

By Pope Benedict XVI and Jean-Michel Coulet

According to Pope Benedict XVI, "the liturgical year is a great voyage of faith on which the Church sets us out." The feast days in the Church's liturgical calendar follow the major events of Jesus' life as recounted in the Gospels. This cycle gives a rhythm to the life of the Church and helps Christians better understand the divine mystery. Especially in our secularized society, liturgical practices guide and deepen our path, centering our focus on Christ and teaching us how to live.

Beginning with Advent and concluding with the feast of Christ the King, Pope Benedict's Holy Days presents excerpts from selected homilies that he has given over the course of the liturgical year in Rome. The book is organized by season and feast days, with brief introductions. This short devotional volume will be a welcome resource for priests and parishioners seeking to focus their minds in preparation for worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: Nov 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781467436519

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI is widely recognized as one of the most brilliant theologians and spiritual leaders of our age. As Pope he authored the best-selling Jesus of Nazareth; and prior to his pontificate, he wrote many influential books that continue to remain important for the contemporary Church, such as Introduction to Christianity and The Spirit of the Liturgy.

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Introduction

For Benedict XVI, the liturgical year is a great voyage of faith on which the Church sets us out. The feast days in the Church’s liturgical calendar give a rhythm to our lives as we pass through the year, a rhythm that follows the major events of Jesus’ life as recounted in the Gospels. The presentation of these holy days with Benedict XVI’s own words helps us better understand the mystery in which the pope invites us to participate. From the beginning of his pontificate, he has not ceased to show us how to come to know and love the Church, and has led us along the path of holiness. He enables us to touch, with our own hands, the grandeur and beauty of the divine mystery: in his words, It is Christ himself who is at the heart of the liturgy.

It is important, especially in this secularized age, to rediscover certain practices that form us, practices that guide and deepen our path. We are like laborers who dig ever-deeper furrows in the earth with the plow of our heart, in order that we may grow ever higher. God wishes to renew the world by way of the same path that Christ himself followed. Thus, everything is meant to unfold according to the humble and patient logic of the grain of wheat, which, having fallen to the ground, dies in order to give life.

We have to learn to know and live liturgical time by recalling, again and again, that this time is nourished by a constant relationship between tradition and progress. These two concepts complement each other harmoniously, because tradition is a living reality, and includes within itself the seed of development, of progress. Liturgy is an ensemble of acts, symbols, and words, by means of which the Church, made up of women and men, offers worship to God and hands down the knowledge of God to others. The definitive goal always remains the glory of God and the sanctification of his people.

The meditations on the feast days of the Church that are offered in this little book are excerpts selected from the words pronounced by Pope Benedict XVI over the course of the liturgical year as it is lived in Rome. It begins with Advent and concludes with the feast of Christ the King.

JEAN-MICHEL COULET

Editor of the French editions of the Vatican newspaper

L’Osservatore Romano

Advent

Advent (derived from the Latin word adventus) is the time in which we experience the presence of eternity and eagerly await its arrival. For precisely this reason it is in a particular way the time of joy, an interior joy that no suffering can take away. It is joy over the fact that God made himself a child. This joy, which we carry hidden within us, gives us the courage to continue forward into the future with confidence. Present among us, it speaks to us in different ways: in the Holy Scriptures, in the liturgical year, in the saints, in the events of daily life, and in the whole of creation.

First Vespers of Advent

Everyone knows how important the liturgy is to Pope Benedict XVI. The beginning of the liturgical year thus deserves to be celebrated in a solemn way by a Mass that introduces the people of God into the new year. This celebration takes place in St. Peter’s, and follows closely the celebration of Christ the King. The term advent can be translated as presence, arrival, coming.

Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual events of the day are hints that God is giving us, signs of the attention he has for each one of us. How often does God give us a glimpse of his love! To keep, as it were, an interior journal of this love would be a beautiful and salutary task for our life! In the language of the ancient world it was a technical term used to indicate the arrival of an official or the visit of the king or emperor to a province. However, it could also mean the coming of the divinity that emerges from concealment to manifest himself forcefully or that was celebrated as being present in worship. Christians used the word advent to express their relationship with Jesus Christ: Jesus is the King who entered this poor province called earth to pay everyone a visit; he makes all those who believe in him participate in his coming, all who believe in his presence in the liturgical assembly. The essential meaning of the word adventus was: God is here, he has not withdrawn from the world, he has not deserted us. Even if we

Reviews for Holy Days

[baroquem_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pope Benedict's writings and meditations are always a treasure trove of wisdom and insight. In this brief compilation, however, I found myself wanting more of each excerpt. The selections for most of the feasts of the year are quite brief, often no more than a single paragraph that has apparently been snipped from the middle of one of the Pope's homilies or Angelus addresses. While this works sometimes, more often than not I found the transitions uncomfortable: the reader is dropped too quickly into a train of thought, then snatched away again just as abruptly.

[anxiousanglican · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading Holy Days: Meditations on the Feasts, Fasts, and Other Solemnities of the Church. The meditations themselves are, in the words of the editor, “excerpts selected from the words pronounced by Pope Benedict XVI over the course of the liturgical year as it is lived in Rome.” It is a short work with seven chapters covering the seasons of the church year. Each meditation stands alone and is typically a page or less in length, allowing the reader to finish a particular reading even time is short. The meditations are very accessible, as well, allowing readers with minimal knowledge of Catholic Christianity or the liturgical year to appreciate these words. All that being noted, I was not particularly impressed with the excerpts selected for this volume. I normally enjoy works by Pope Benedict and have several in my library and have read many others. These selections were always informative but seldom inspirational or devotional; they would really have been better titled “observations” rather than “meditations.” Protestant or non-Christian readers may also be unfamiliar with some of the feasts and solemnities addressed by these selections and may, given the concise nature of the most of the “meditations” miss their significance. All in all, this work did not live up to my expectations. Recommended for fans of Pope Benedict XVI and those seeking his insights on aspects of the church year.

[dzehnle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This little book contaning snippets from the homilies and addresses of Pope Benedict XVI will be a helpful resource for anyone looking for a richer experience of the liturgical year. Though the book does not include sections for every day of the year, the major liturgical celebrations are included.This book will be helpful for both homilists looking for a few intriguing thoughts and for catechists looking to hand on the faith in a more profound manner.Used as a supplement to a regular routine of prayer, _Holy Days_ will be a delight to all who read it and meditate on its contents.

[ellynv_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This pithy small book will be a good resource for reading year after year. The words of the Holy Father are deep, yet accessible to any reader. This is a wonderful companion to other resources that one draws upon for meditation and prayer. It is a shame that there are not more of the Pope Benedicts thoughts here - but it will be a good little something extra to add to my devotional reading throughout the year.

[freder1ck_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book collects excerpts from homilies of Pope Benedict XVI throughout the liturgical year. The editor is Jean-Michel Coulet, editor of the French editions of L'Osservatore Romano. His selections highlight the simple and beautiful reflections of the pope on the mystery of salvation. He also introduces the seasons with brief descriptions of the liturgical context. The translator is D. C. Schindler, who translated Peguy's Portal of the Mystery of Hope into English. It's a short book, so it's possible to read it through in a couple of days. I would have liked it to be a bit more full so that it could be a true companion for a year. At the same time, there's enough depth in the sermons for a prolonged association. I received the book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

[sullijo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Holy Days: Meditations on the Feasts, Fasts, and Other Solemnities of the Church, editor Jean-Michel Coulet has compiled a useful selection of excerpts from the homilies of Pope Benedict XVI related to various holy days throughout the Church's liturgical year.The book is divided by liturgical season, beginning with Advent and progressing through the entire Church year. Each selection is related to a holy day that falls in that season. Readers should be aware that depending on the dates of certain feasts the holy days may appear out of order. For instance, the book places the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle (February 22) after the Second Sunday of Lent; in 2013, the feast will precede the Sunday. This is a minor inconvenience, however.The content comes directly from the homilies and addresses of Benedict XVI and reflects his pastoral and catechetical concerns. While the content of the book may be available online, this collection makes it easy to journey through the Church year with the Holy Father. Holy Days would make a worthy addition to any spiritual library.Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.