Year of Grace 2021 (laminated poster)

This year's calendar for 2021 presents the intense and lively art of Laura James, drawing us into her illustrations of five Scripture passages that offer inspiration and insight about the mystery of death and our Christian hope for eternal life-for us, our loved ones, and all of creation. At the center, we see what the author of the Book of Revelation saw when he was taken by the Spirit to see the heavenly scene that is described in chapter 4: God enthroned, overseeing all, surrounded by twenty-four elders, the Lamb (Christ), and four winged beasts that came to symbolize the four books of the Gospel. In this glimpse of the heavenly liturgy at the end of time, all are praising God and the Lamb. In the upper left corner of the calendar, Michael the Archangel weighs the souls of those recently raised from the dead. In the upper right, the shepherd from Psalm 23 leads the sheep through green pastures, beside still waters, and spreads a table before them. At the lower right we see Isaiah's prophecy (in chapter 25) of a great banquet on a holy mountain where tears are wiped away and death is no more. Finally at the lower left, the artist illustrates the metaphor from John 12:24 of a grain of wheat falling and dying in order to produce much fruit-an image of the Paschal mystery-the foundation of our hope in salvation. All of these scenes reassure us that God is in control, that justice will reign in the end, and that we and the entire world can be transformed and redeemed in God's love. The liturgical year 2021 follows the Sunday Year B cycle and the Weekday Year I cycle, beginning on November 29, 2020 (First Sunday of Advent) and ending on Saturday, November 27, 2021.

LTP's circular display of the liturgical year makes its key features easily understandable. We can see at a glance the liturgical seasons in their characteristic colors, Sundays on the outer rim, and the days and weeks radiating from the center.

Use the Year of Grace calendar in many ways:

• Give (or sell) one to every household in the parish and school.
• Hang one in every classroom, meeting room, and in the church vestibule to teach about the liturgical year.
• Assign students to report on specific liturgical days.
• Present calendars to first communicants and Confirmation candidates