Divine Word College of Calapan

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS

Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, 5200, Philippines

I. CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF TIME

Depending on world view, ideology, faith, or belief we can have various kinds of understanding of time. In a
simplistic way, three basic forms can be distinguished: a linear, a cyclic and a spiral understanding of time.

a. The linear understanding

One can think of time as just running ahead from beginning to end In a graphic way it looks like this:

Beginning End

A Ω

In such a model the character of time is well expressed; there is a dynamic movement in time, it is
reflecting, and the present moment will not return anymore. But this model does not express that there are
high points and determining events in this world which are outstanding and changing the course of time and
which are not just one moment besides others. For a Christian, the linear model is not acceptable because
we do believe that the Christ event is not just a moment of time like others, but it is unique outstanding or, as
the letter to the Hebrews says, it has a once-for-all-the times character (Heb. 7,27; 9,26.28; 10,10)

b. The Cyclic understanding

One can think of time also in the form of a circle or a ring. The moments of time are all running in a closed
curve at an equal distance from the center, leading back to the starting point and recurring again. In a
graphic way, it looks like this.

center

Sometimes it is said that Buddhism follows this kind of understanding of time when it asserts that everything
has its origin, passes and returns again. In this model it is well expressed that we all turn around a central
point: For us Christians this is the Christ event. But what cannot be reconciled with our belief is the fact that
everything returns again. We Christians understand ourselves as a pilgrim church on the way to our eternal
homeland, and one day we will reach our goal, and we will be with Christ forever.
c. The spiral understanding

Goal; End of Time

Beginning

A spiral is something that winds around a center of a pole, and by doing this it moves forward or advances
to higher levels. In a graphic way such a model looks like this

Such an understanding of time fits very well our Christian life and belief. The middle line is the
Christ event or becoming present again in gatherings and the sacraments of the church. We believers are
all moving around and along this line and by doing so we move forward until we reach our final goal: to be
with the Lord forever. In such a model the centrality of the Christ event is properly emphasized and also the
dynamic of its sacramental and liturgical representation. In this way also the liturgical year will have to be
understood in the course of one year (one turn of the spiral) we turn around the Christ event and by doing
this we move forward or upward and come closer to our final goal (SC 102)

II. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CALENDAR

Today it is made very easy for us: we all follow a Christian calendar which is prepared for us by some
experts, approved by Rome and given to the churches all over the world. This has some very positive points
because it safeguards and guarantees a basic Christian unity all over the world. On the other hand, the
centralized liturgical legislation can sometimes limit the freedom to make major adaptations and too often the
liturgy and its calendar presents itself still in a Western form providing very little room for adaptation to native
cultures. It was not like this in the beginning of the Christian Church Jesus Christ did not come and give to
his followers a fixed ritual, prescribed prayers or even a calendar to be followed, but he gave us a new spirit
of worship and a new motivation to celebrate. Each community of Christians had to find its own way of worship
depending on the traditions they had and on the cultural background where they lived. This gave rise to the
many various liturgies of the church and the various calendars. In the following, some factors that contributed
to the development and formation of the present calendar of liturgical celebrations will be presented and
explained.
1. The Jewish culture and religion

God made himself visible in Jesus Christ. In the incarnation he assumed the nature of a man, became a
carpenter's son of Nazareth and brought God's message and revelation in the framework of the Jewish
culture and religion. The friends and first followers of Jesus, the twelve and his disciples, were Jews and they
lived out their discipleship in Jewish terms and created the first Judeo-Christian communities. No wonder
then that the Jewish religion, its feasts and celebrations, had a decisive influence on the formation of the
Christian liturgy and the arrangement of the feasts

Many of our prayers have their origin in the Jewish liturgy like: Amen, Hosanna, Sabaoth (God of power
and might), the Eucharistic prayer which has its roots in the Jewish Berakah (the prayer of praise and
thanksgiving) Following the example of Christ and in line with tradition, the Roman Catholic Church uses for
the Eucharist unleavened bread as the Jews did on the occasion of the Passover meal.

The Jews began the celebration of the Sabbath and of other great feasts on the evening before which is also
done by the Christian church; generally, the liturgical day begins at midnight but in the case of Sunday and
solemnities, we follow the Jewish tradition and begin on the eve with Evening Prayer.

The Passover feast or Passah is the most important festivity in the Jewish liturgical year. It is the
celebration and ritual reenactment of the liberation from Egyptian slavery and captivity by the mighty hand of
God, commemorating how he gave his people new freedom, new hope and a new future. Also in the Christian
liturgical year, Easter is the central and the most important feast. Like the Jews we celebrate our liberation
from the captivity of sin and our golden freedom as children of God through the death and resurrection of
Christ. Similar to the Jewish Passah, also the date of the Christian Easter feast differs from year to year
depending on the full moon of spring.

Also, the fifty days after Easter with the culminating feast of Pentecost has its roots in the Jewish
liturgical calendar, namely in the feast of seven weeks (Schawuot). Originally it was an agrarian feast, a
thanksgiving festival for the harvest. Later on, it was interpreted in a spiritual way and became the time of the
proclamation of the Torah and the commemoration of the covenant on Sinai and the many other covenants.

Many more instances could be mentioned to prove the influence of the Jewish festival calendar on
the Christian liturgical year, but this will be done later while explaining the background of the Christian feasts.
The above-mentioned examples are at present proof enough to show how much the Christian liturgy in
general and the calendar of the liturgical feasts in particular are influenced by the Jewish liturgy. After all, in
the incarnation the Son of God became a Jew.

2. The Roman-Hellenistic culture

Very early the Christian message was preached also to people outside the Jewish culture who did
not know anything about the religion of the Jews and the customs and festivities connected with it. The Acts
of the Apostles gives us a vivid description about the process of adapting to pagan religions and the problems
of ex-culturating the message of Christ from the Jewish sphere and influence and inculturating it into a new
pagan background. It needed a vision from heaven to make Peter's mind open enough to realize that God
has called not only the Jews to faith in Jesus Christ but all men of good will. After he had baptized the pagan
Cornelius he experienced difficulties with his fellow believers. They questioned him and he had to justify his
conduct and behavior (cf. Acts 10:90). During the Council at Jerusalem there were "heated discussions" (Acts
15:7) about the question whether a pagan should first be circumcised and live according to the law of Moses
before he can be accepted into the Christian community. After much back and forth and under leadership of
Peter it was agreed not to impose any unnecessary burden on them: "We, with the Holy Spirit, have decided
not to put any other burden on you except what is necessary not to eat meat that has been offered to idols,
and not to do to anyone what you do not want another to do to you. Keep these rules and be guided by the
Holy Spirit" (Acts 15:28ff). This was a very courageous pastoral-minded decision which opened the way to
the golden freedom of the true children of God.

Another marvelous example of inculturation the message of Jesus Christ we find in the preaching of
Paul in Athens He had to find a connecting point for his evangelization, and he did find it in the altar dedicated
to the unknown God (Acts 17:23ff), Paul did not show any fear of being misunderstood or of not drawing a
clear line between the pagan gods and the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ. These few instances
from the Acts of the Apostles show how much tension the spread of the Christian message (and the
exculturation and inculturation connected with it) brought to the community of believers and how much
pastoral creativity was needed to overcome the difficulties But with zealous missionary efforts and
courageous approaches they succeeded and so in Rome, the capital of the great empire, the Christian faith
took firm roots and the Christian community began to flourish. There in the pagan and cosmopolitan
environment of that city, the Christians were challenged to adapt themselves and to find their own identity.

Rome exerted much influence in shaping the liturgy not only because Peter and Paul died and were
buried there but also because Rome was the center of the world at that time. The best-known heritage of
the Roman Hellenistic culture to the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church is probably the language For about
a thousand and five hundred years we celebrated the liturgy in Latin, interwoven also with elements from the
Greek culture like the "kyrie eleison". The Latin language was such a predominant characteristic of the liturgy
of the Roman church that she is called even today the Latin Church (as compared to other churches which
celebrated the liturgy in the vernacular). Several traditions and customs in the liturgy of the church originated
in the church of Rome like the three masses on Christmas day, the procession for the veneration of the cross
on Good Friday and many of the liturgical vestments (stole, alb, tunic, cope). The date of the twenty-fifth of
December as the day of the celebration of the birth of Christ is also a Roman heritage. On that day pagan
Rome celebrated the feast in honor of the never dying sun (natalie solis invicti) which was transformed by
the Christians into the feast in honor of the birth of Christ. Rome was the burial place of the apostles Peter
and Paul and, as such, the church of that city had a leading role among the other churches. That is why the
feast of the dedication of the major churches of Rome are included in the calendar of the church and
celebrated all over the world. November 9, the dedication of the Lateran basilica, November 18, the
dedication of St. Peter and of the basilica of St. Paul outside the walls, August 5, the dedication of the most
important Marian church, St. Mary Major.

Finally, another influence of Rome on the Christian calendar must be mentioned the veneration
of the saints, especially the martyrs. In the city of Rome and in other places of the Roman empire severe
persecutions of Christians were going on because the Christians refused to participate in the cult of the
Emperors. They recognized only their one Lord and King Jesus Christ and preferred to be put to death than
to betray him. Very early, probably at the beginning of the second century, the martyrs were venerated by
the Christian community where they were buried Rome was blessed with very many of these martyrs,
beginning with Peter and Paul, bishops of Rome like Callixtus, Sixtus and Cornelius, the deacon Lawrence,
Sebastian, Agnes, Cecilia, ctc. Their feasts were not celebrated only in the church of Rome but also in other
churches of the world and several of these were mentioned by name in the Roman canon (today Eucharistic
Prayer 1).

These few facts are enough to show how much the Roman-Hellenistic culture influenced the
development of the liturgy of the church, especially the calendar of liturgical celebrations

3. The German Culture

After the fall of the old Roman empire various peoples invaded Italy, within the space of sixteen years
(S36-552) Rome was taken and retaken six times, and what all these sieges meant for this great city and its
population one can easily imagine. Charlemagne (742-814) wanted to build up a new kind of empire the Holy
Roman German Empire. He understood himself as another Constantine who was called to protect the
church from within and without, and he was aware that this in turn would strengthen his reign. In a letter to
Pope Leo III, he wrote: "It is my office with the aid of the divine goodness to defend the holy church of Christ
against the attacks of the infidels from without, and to sustain it within by the profession of the Catholic faith”.
It is only natural that in such an atmosphere and environment the liturgical life of the church flourished. Under
the leadership of the emperor, assisted by his teacher, friend and adviser Alcuin, liturgical customs observed
in the empire of Charlemagne were introduced into the Roman liturgy. The number of the feast days
increased considerably and there was a great development of the cult of the Saints. In fact, it is due to the
influence of Alcuin that the festival of All Saints, which was celebrated in England and Ireland, became
known and was propagated also on the continent "We owe All Saints Day to Alcuin" this is the result of the
masterly research by the well -known scholar Gerald Ellard.

In summary we can observe that the Christian faith and its celebration in the liturgy underwent a
continuous process of acculturation and inculturation which had also its impact on the calendar of the
Church. Three cultures especially exerted a decisive influence the Jewish, the Roman-Hellenistic and the
German. It is to be hoped that in the future the many marvelous cultures of Africa, America and Asia will have
more impact on liturgy and calendar. The church will, thus, be enriched and truly become catholic (worldwide).
Questions for Discussion:

1. What is the Christian Understanding of time?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What do you think is the unique characteristic/s of Christian understanding of time? What is Spiral
Understanding of Time?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What are important factors that influenced the development of the Christian calendar? Which do you
think has the most influence?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Activity 1. Write True if the statement is correct and False if the statement is incorrect.

_________1. Christian faith and its celebration in the liturgy underwent a continuous process of
acculturation and inculturation which had also its impact on the calendar of the Church.

_________2. The cyclic understanding of time is the Church’s primary reference of Christian Calendar.

_________3. Many of our prayers have their origin in the Jewish liturgy like: Amen, Hosanna, Sabaoth (God
of power and might)

_________4. In the Christian liturgical year, Easter is the central and the most important feast

_________5. The fifty days after Easter with the culminating feast of Pentecost has its roots in the Jewish
liturgical calendar, namely in the feast of seven weeks.

_________6. Charlemagne wanted to build up a new kind of empire the Holy Roman German Empire.

_________7. Jewish culture influenced the development of the liturgy of the church, especially the calendar
of liturgical celebrations.

_________8. The best-known heritage of the Roman Hellenistic culture to the liturgy of the Roman Catholic
Church is probably the language, Greek.

_________9. The number of the feast days increased considerably and there was a great development of
the cult of the Saints during the German Culture.

________10. Rome exerted much influence in shaping the liturgy of Christianity.

Application: Below are the list of people who are close to us. Identify what particular influence/s or impact they made
in the formation of our understanding of Religion or Faith.

1. Mother- ______________________________________________________________

2. Father- _________________________________________________________________

3. Grandparents-____________________________________________________________

4. Siblings- _________________________________________________________________

5. Peers/Friends_____________________________________________________________

6. Other/s:_________________________________________________________________

Course References:

• Wostyn, Lode. DISCIPLESHIP IN COMMUNITY: A WORKBOOK FOR THEOLOGY 3. Quezon

City: Claretian Publications, 2003.
• Raas, Bernhard, SVD. LITURGY, MINISTRIES AND THE BIBLE. Manila: Logos Publications,Inc.,
2010.
• CBCP-ECCE. CATECHISM FOR FILIPINO CATHOLICS. Manila: Word and Life Publications,1997.
• Chupungco, Fr. Anscar, OSB. The Filipino Catholics and their Life of Worship And Prayer.
• DOCETE, Nos. 107 & 108, Issue Nos. 112, 113 & 114. Intramuros, Manila: ECCE National
Catechetical Office, Jan to Sept. 2003.
• Balon, Jess P. Liturgical Year, DOCETE, Nos. 107 & 108. MANILA: ECCE-National
Catechetical Office, 2015.

• Salud, Audrey Vincentine. Christ and the Church (Module 2), Letran Calamba Religious Education
Program. Katha Publishing Company, Inc., 2013.
• Knox, Ian. Theology for Teachers, Claretian Publications, 2011.