Lent - a six-week period of penance before Easter.Christmas - recalling the Nativity of Jesus Christ and his manifestation to the peoples of the world.Advent - four weeks of preparation before the celebration of Jesus' birth.

The liturgical year is made up of six seasons: The Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ-his suffering, death, and resurrection-is continuously proclaimed and renewed through celebrating the events of his life and in the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

Both are organized and published in a liturgical calendar, which is also enriched by observances proper to local Churches, whether national, diocesan, parish-level, or religious community. The liturgical year consists of a seasonal cycle and a sanctoral cycle, called the Proper of Time and the Proper of Saints, respectively. In fact, throughout the course of the year the Church unfolds the entire mystery of Christ and observes the birthdays of the Saints. Each week, on the day called the Lord's Day, she commemorates the Resurrection of the Lord, which she also celebrates once a year in the great Paschal Solemnity, together with his blessed Passion. Holy Church celebrates the saving work of Christ on prescribed days in the course of the year with sacred remembrance. The first words of the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, drawn from the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, summarize the profound meaning of the liturgical celebrations of the Church and their organization:

Liturgies of the ordinary