Why the Liturgical Year Shapes Us More Than the Secular Calendar

We often measure our lives by the dates and markers of the secular calendar, school terms, national holidays, birthdays, vacations. These rhythms are real and meaningful, but they cannot carry the full weight of our lives or give us the deepest sense of who we are. The secular calendar tells us when to shop, when to work, and when to rest for a day or two. The liturgical calendar, however, tells us a much greater story, the story of God’s redeeming love.

A Story That Holds Us

The liturgical year walks us, year after year, through the life of Christ. From the longing of Advent to the joy of Christmas, from the fasting of Lent to the triumph of Easter, from the fire of Pentecost to the quiet growth of Ordinary Time, the seasons of the Church teach us to see our lives as part of something larger. Each feast and fast reminds us that our days are not random or ordinary, they are woven into the mystery of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

By contrast, the secular calendar trains us to orient our lives around deadlines, consumer cycles, and cultural milestones that pass quickly and fade. The Fourth of July ends with fireworks. Labor Day ends with sales. Even New Year’s Eve, with all its excitement, quickly collapses into resolutions we rarely keep. These markers may punctuate our schedules, but they do not shape our souls.

Formation Through Time

The Church, in her wisdom, gives us a different rhythm, a rhythm that sanctifies time itself. The early Christians understood that to follow Jesus was not simply to believe in Him but to walk with Him through the days and seasons of life. By marking time liturgically, we are formed slowly but surely into His likeness. We learn to wait with expectation, to feast with joy, to repent with humility, and to live in hope.

Think of the way children absorb the life of faith by living the Church year at home. They learn that purple means preparation, green means growth, white means joy. They begin to expect Advent candles, Christmas hymns, Lenten prayers, Easter Alleluias. Without a single lecture, they come to know that their lives are bound up in the life of Christ.

A Counter-Cultural Witness

Choosing to live by the liturgical year is also an act of resistance. In a world that tells us our worth is found in productivity, consumption, or fleeting pleasures, the Church calls us back to the eternal. When we fast while the world feasts, when we keep celebrating Easter while the world has moved on, when we sanctify our homes with prayer and candles in the middle of Ordinary Time, we bear witness to a deeper truth: Christ is Lord of time, and our lives are hidden in Him.

Shaped Into God’s People

The secular calendar will always have its place, we need to know when to pay taxes, when school begins, when to honor our national history. But it cannot tell us who we are or where we are going. Only the liturgical year does that. By walking us through the story of Christ again and again, it slowly reshapes us. These seasons are not mere repetition, they are transformation.

This is why the liturgical year shapes us more than the secular calendar: because it does not simply mark time, it redeems time. It teaches us, season by season, how to live, how to hope, how to love, and how to worship. It roots us in the story that will not fade, because it is the story of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Interested in following the liturgical year?

You can find all of my The Liturgical Home guidebooks HERE. They walk you through each liturgical season, with all of their feast days, traditions, recipes, and devotions. They give you everything you need to celebrate the liturgical year in your home.

And coming soon …

My liturgical wall calendar for the 2025-2026 year! Hang it in a promimnent place in your home, office, or church to keep up with every liturgical date for the year! (This is the calendar for 2024-2025 year)