Once a regular ceremony of the Church – in days gone by without modern calendars and technology – the annual Epiphany proclamation served to remind the faithful of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year, the life of the Church, and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year. Here it is for the Year of Our Lord + 2024.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The glory of the Lord has shone upon us, and shall ever manifest itself among us until the day of His return. Through the rhythms and changes of time let us call to mind and live the mysteries of salvation.
The center of the whole liturgical year is the Paschal Triduum (the Holy Three Days) of the Lord, crucified, buried and risen, which will culminate in the solemn Vigil of Easter, during the holy night that will end with the dawn of the thirty-first day of March. Every Sunday, as in a weekly Easter, Christ’s holy Church around the world makes present that great and saving deed by which Christ has forever conquered sin and death.
From Easter there comes forth and are reckoned all the days we keep holy: Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten spring, the fourteenth day of February; the Ascension of the Lord, the ninth day of May; and Pentecost, the nineteenth day of June; the first Sunday of Advent, the first day of December.
Likewise in the feasts of all the Saints, of Mary and the Apostles, and in the commemoration of the faithful departed, the pilgrim Church on earth proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
To Christ who was, who is, and who is to come, the Lord of time and history, be endless praise forever and ever!
Amen.