Mary and the Liturgical Year: A Pastoral Resource
by Katharine E. Harmon
What is this book?
As a liturgical scholar I admit that I am biased towards authors that know what they are talking about when they are dealing with liturgical topics and I have little time for the many newly published books on liturgy that are not conversant with contemporary liturgical scholarship. Moreover, there is an ever-increasing output of new books that are published in what sometimes seems to be a sort of a time warp where the liturgical renewal inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council never happened. For that reason, it is a particular delight to find a book where the author presents a liturgical topic in a liturgically literate manner and opens the treasures of contemporary liturgy for the reader. This book is an example of a work informed by a liturgical literacy and simply put it was a joy to read.
Harmon provides readers with a survey of Mary’s role in the Church’s liturgical prayer from the earliest evidence through to our own day. She does this in particular by examining twelve prominent Marian solemnities, feasts, and memorials celebrated throughout the liturgical year. It should be noted that these are selected with reference to the Liturgical Year as celebrated in the United States. This means that Our Lady of Guadalupe is treated as a Feast, whereas in Ireland, where I am, it is an optional memorial, and, obviously, Our Lady of Knock, which is an important memorial in Ireland, is not treated as US Catholics are not fortunate enough to have this observance in their national calendar! But the book is eminently relevant in whatever part of the world the reader lives the liturgical year.
Who’s it for?
As a pastoral resource it is aimed at anyone involved in Roman Catholic Worship. There is plenty of material that an Orthodox or Protestant Christian could benefit from, but the book is intimately linked to the liturgical year as currently celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church in her normative liturgical books. Harmon explains in the introduction, the book “is a resource for the faithful, for pastoral ministers, and for persons seeking to reflect on Mary as a source for wisdom and faith by looking through the lens of the liturgy, and particularly the liturgical year” (p. 8).
What difference will this book make?
Sometimes pre-conciliar Catholicism has been accused of placing too great an emphasis on the role of Our Lady in Catholic life and encouraging a saccharin sweet Marian devotion that was not always theologically correct. However, it is also the case that in certain places the pendulum has swung too far and the integral role of Our Lady in Catholic devotion and liturgy is not given enough emphasis. This book can help parishes and ministers to reappropriate a healthy Marian devotion.
Why is this book significant / important
I think that the main significance of this book is its theological literacy. One often sees an exhortation in books of liturgical theology to return to the actual liturgical texts as sources of theology. This book does just this and almost all of the work is directly drawn from liturgical texts and liturgical history.
Why is this book useful / practical?
The book is quite short (its barely over 100 pages). It is an easy read, but it opens the field to readers and encourages them to delve deeper into the liturgical texts and to “do” theology by celebrating the Church’s Marian observances.
Suggestion/Quibble?
I hope that this book has many readers and that it will have future revised editions. My suggestion is that the future editions would make reference to the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This two volume set was published by the Congregation of Divine Worship in 1986. It contains a set of forty-six Masses that were originally composed for specific Marian shrines and for communities. These Masses are organized according to the liturgical year. These are all optional, and while not as important as the general Marian observances that Harmon writes about, I would suggest that they could complement their more official counterparts and when used properly help worshipping communities to celebrate Mary in the liturgical year.
Next steps
The main steps forward are to take this book and read it. The renewal of the liturgical year is one of the main elements of the liturgical renewal inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council. One of the best ways forward for parishes and assemblies trying to foster a living liturgy is to celebrate the liturgical year in a meaningful way as recommended in the liturgical books. All too often the celebrations of this year are conducted in a minimalistic way. More attention needs to be given to celebrating them in their fulness. In this respect, the integration of a healthy Marian devotion into this celebration is both an excellent retrieval of traditional Catholic piety and an integral building block in helping Catholics to actively participate in the liturgy.
Harmon, Katherine. Mary and the Liturgical Year: A Pastoral Resource. Chicago, IL: Liturgy Training Publications, 2023, 112 pages, $17.95. ISBN: 9781616717285
REVIEWER: Neil Xavier O’Donoghue
Neil Xavier O’Donoghue is a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, NJ, U.S.A. He currently serves as Director of Liturgical Programmes in St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland and as Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.