Liturgical Preludes

Author: Luis M. Martinez

The liturgical year and the individual sanctification of each Catholic are intimately connected. As Archbishop Luis M. Martínez writes, “The liturgical year is a mystical reproduction of the life of Jesus and a type of the interior life of souls.” This is not some lofty ideal or poetic fancy; it is a summary of the power and purpose of the sacred liturgy as the school of the spiritual life; the glorification of Christ; and the prelude to beatitude in God’s heavenly kingdom. In Liturgical Preludes, Martínez offers a series of reflections on the ecclesiastical year, based on solid dogma, Scripture, and the lives and writings of saints. Moving season by season through the Church calendar, Martínez meditates on purity, the power which lifts the soul from the earthly and into the heavenly (“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”), and on particular features of the seasons and feasts, such as “The Mystery of Weakness” at Christmas; “Sorrow and Joy” in Lent and “Alleluia” at Easter; and “Sources of Joy” at Pentecost.