SERMONS for THE LITURGICAL YEAR According to the Traditional Calendar

Holy Scripture is a fount of living water that never dries up.

Yet, the Word of God must be preached anew year by year and generation by generation. It is our beacon in days of confusion and upheaval, pointing to what cannot and does not change. For centuries, preachers have faithfully taken up our Lord's commission to His apostles: "Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature." And thus, it is with great delight that we present this volume of sermons for the liturgical year by Fr Thomas Crean OP, who says of this commission:

"Our Lord allows the world to continue because the gospel is still being preached to mankind. When He sees that it has been preached sufficiently, there will no longer be any purpose in the continued existence of the world. And then, on that day, He will return."

One of the best ways to prepare for His return in glory is to hear and contemplate His word. Reading Fr Crean's sermons is a satisfying and illuminating experience. He has an inquisitiveness about the Word of God, deepened by refined theological insight and a priestly understanding of the Person of Jesus Christ, both in His human and divine nature. Fr Crean thinks aloud, as it were, posing the questions that occur to him as he reflects on the Scriptural passages chosen by the Church for the liturgies of Sundays and various feast days. He then answers these questions, carefully uncovering the truths which Christ reveals to us through His Church - with clarity and common sense, with a wealth of convincing evidence and a scholar's eye for significant detail, but above all, igniting love towards the mysteries of faith, which are beyond human understanding.

The sermons in this volume, following the entire liturgical year in the traditional form, were preached between 2020 and 2023. They have been kept as close as possible to their original form, with references to coinciding feasts, which vary from year to year, and to current affairs (such as church closures in 2020 and 2021).

Most of the Scripture quotes are from the Douay-Rheims Bible, but the Catholic Revised Standard Version (second edition) has occasionally also been used. Let us pray that, by reading these sermons with the eyes of faith and meditating upon them, hearts "shall flow rivers of living water" (Jn 4:10).

Let us pray that, by reading these sermons with the eyes of faith and meditating upon them, hearts "shall flow rivers of living water" (Jn 4:10).