Have you ever wondered why on one Sunday you hear the Gospel of Matthew, and the following year, on the same calendar Sunday, you hear Luke? Or why the priest in the homily mentions that “we are in Cycle B”? What is Cycle B? What is a liturgical cycle?
The liturgical cycle is the system by which the Church organizes the reading of Sacred Scripture throughout the years, so that the people of God may progressively come to know the totality of biblical revelation. It is, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, the way in which the Church unfolds before the faithful “the riches of redemption” so that they may enter into intimate contact with them.
In this article, we explain what the liturgical cycle is, how Cycles A, B, and C work, what the current liturgical cycle is, how to calculate it yourself, and why understanding this system can transform the way you hear the Word of God every Sunday.
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What is the Catholic Church’s liturgical cycle?
The liturgical cycle is the system for organizing biblical readings proclaimed at Mass, distributed over periods of one, two, or three years, depending on whether they are Sundays, solemnities, or weekdays. Its purpose is for the Christian assembly to hear, over several consecutive years, the greatest possible number of texts from Sacred Scripture — the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the apostolic letters — in an ordered and pedagogical sequence.
Before the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Rite was governed by a single-year lectionary, which was repeated identically every twelve months. This considerably limited the volume of biblical texts a faithful person could hear throughout their life. The new Ordo Lectionum Missae — the official arrangement of Mass readings, promulgated after the conciliar reform — introduced the current system: a three-year cycle for Sundays and solemnities (the well-known Cycles A, B, and C) and a two-year cycle for weekday readings.
To remember: the liturgical cycle does not determine which season of the year we celebrate — that is done by the liturgical calendar — but rather which biblical text is proclaimed each Sunday and each day of the week.
What does the Magisterium teach about the meaning of the liturgical cycle?
The organization of the liturgical cycle is not merely a practical criterion of variety. It has a theological foundation that the Magisterium has explained in recent decades.
The Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, teaches in its fifth chapter that the Church “unfolds the entire mystery of Christ” throughout the year, from the Incarnation to the Lord’s second coming, and that through this sacred pedagogy, the riches of redemption are made present in such a way that the faithful can “come into contact with them and be filled with the grace of salvation”. The cycle of readings is the concrete instrument by which this pedagogy is fulfilled Sunday after Sunday.
Pope Pius XII, in the encyclical Mediator Dei (1947), had anticipated this foundation by teaching that the liturgical year is Christ himself living in his Church, and that the interior assimilation of the paschal mystery — not merely its external consideration — is indispensable for the sanctification of souls. Under the same logic, the cycle of readings does not seek to inform the faithful about the Bible as one studies a manual: it seeks for the faithful to encounter, year after year, the living Word of God proclaimed in the assembly.
Pope Paul VI, through the Motu Proprio Mysterii Paschalis (1969), definitively reorganized the Roman calendar and re-established the absolute centrality of the Paschal Mystery as the axis of all celebrations. This is the same principle that orders the structure of the liturgical cycle of readings, which during the Easter Season replaces the first reading from the Old Testament with the Acts of the Apostles, bearing witness to the birth of the Church under the influence of the Risen One.
Saint John Paul II, in the apostolic letter Dies Domini (1998), emphasized that Sunday is the “primordial feast” and the “Easter of the week”. Each time the liturgical cycle presents a new Gospel passage on Sunday, that passage is proclaimed in the most important celebration of the Christian week, not as an isolated reading of an ancient text.
How does the Sunday liturgical cycle work: Cycles A, B, and C?
The Sunday liturgical cycle is triennial. This means that each Sunday and each solemnity of the liturgical year has a different Gospel assigned to it depending on the year in the cycle: Year A, Year B, or Year C. Once the three years are completed, the cycle restarts from Year A.
At each Sunday or solemnity Mass, three readings are proclaimed:
The first reading, almost always taken from the Old Testament, chosen for its thematic or prophetic relationship with the Gospel of the day. During the Easter Season, this reading is replaced by passages from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.
The responsorial psalm, taken from the Book of Psalms, which functions as a prayerful response to the first reading.
The second reading, taken from the apostolic letters — the epistles of Saint Paul, the Catholic letters, or the Book of Revelation —, which during Ordinary Time is read semi-continuously, without a direct thematic relationship to the other two readings.
The Gospel, which constitutes the culmination of the Liturgy of the Word and largely determines the identity of each cycle.
Which Gospel is read in each liturgical cycle?
Cycle A is centered on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the evangelist who presents Jesus as the new Moses and the fulfillment of Israel’s promises.
Cycle B is centered on the Gospel according to Saint Mark, the shortest of the four. For this reason, during five consecutive Sundays of Ordinary Time — from the 17th to the 21st Sunday —, the reading from Mark is interrupted to proclaim the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, which contains the multiplication of the loaves and the dense eucharistic discourse of the Bread of Life.
Cycle C is centered on the Gospel according to Saint Luke, the evangelist of mercy, of the poor, and of the most beloved parables in Christian tradition.
The Gospel according to Saint John does not have its own Sunday cycle. The Church reserves it for liturgical seasons of greater theological density: Lent, the entire Easter Season, the Octave of Easter, and the great solemnities of the Lord. This choice is not accidental: the fourth Gospel offers a mystical key to understanding the divinity of Christ that the Church wishes to reserve for moments of greater contemplative intensity during the year.
How is the current liturgical cycle calculated?
To know which liturgical cycle we are in, it is not always necessary to consult a liturgical calendar. There is a simple mathematical formula, based on dividing the civil year by three.
The formula is as follows: divide the civil year number by 3 and observe the remainder of that division.
If the remainder is 1, the year corresponds to Cycle A.
If the remainder is 2, the year corresponds to Cycle B.
If the remainder is 0 — that is, if the year is exactly divisible by 3 —, the year corresponds to Cycle C.
Let’s apply the formula to recent and upcoming years. The year 2025 divided by 3 gives an exact result, with no remainder: therefore, 2025 was Cycle C, the year of Luke’s Gospel. The year 2026 divided by 3 leaves a remainder of 1: therefore, 2026 is Cycle A, the year of Matthew’s Gospel. The year 2027 divided by 3 leaves a remainder of 2: therefore, 2027 will be Cycle B, the year of Mark’s Gospel. The year 2028, exactly divisible by 3, will again be Cycle C.
To remember: the sequence of cycles always follows the same order — A, B, C, A, B, C — and is never interrupted or altered, year after year, since the liturgical reform of 1969.
It is important to clarify a significant nuance: the liturgical year does not coincide with the civil year. Each liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which falls between late November and early December of the previous civil year.
The liturgical cycle that governs most of a given civil year is the one identified with that year in the calculation described above. Thus, although the liturgical year 2025-2026 technically began with Advent in November 2025, the vast majority of its Sundays occur during the civil year 2026, which is why it is called Cycle A.
What is the weekday liturgical cycle?
Alongside the triennial Sunday cycle, there is a second system, much less known but equally important: the weekday cycle, which organizes the readings for weekdays, called “ferias” in liturgical language.
At weekday Masses, only two readings are proclaimed: a first reading, which alternates between the Old and New Testaments, and the Gospel.
The weekday Gospel follows a single cycle, identical each year, which continuously covers the narratives of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, in that order, throughout the 34 weeks of Ordinary Time.
The weekday first reading, however, follows a two-year cycle, designed to avoid the constant repetition of the same Old and New Testament texts. Year I, also called an odd year, is used in civil years with odd numbering — 2025, 2027 —. Year II, called an even year, is used in civil years with even numbering — 2026, 2028 —.
This means that in 2026, the Cycle A for Sunday readings and Year II for weekday readings (during the week) coincide simultaneously. These are two parallel and independent systems that should not be confused.
The spiritual meaning of the liturgical cycle
The liturgical cycle is not merely a tool for biblical organization. It is, above all, a spiritual pedagogy designed for the growth of the faithful’s spiritual life. Those who attend Holy Mass daily and come into contact with and meditate on the biblical texts come to know the Lord better and grow in their love.
Those who regularly attend Sunday Mass for three consecutive years will have heard, in an ordered sequence, practically all four Gospels. They will not have read them as one studies an academic text: they will have heard them proclaimed aloud, within the assembly, in the sacramental context of the Eucharist, where the Word and the Bread are offered together as a single gift.
This triennial repetition also has a formative value that private reading alone cannot offer. Each time the liturgical cycle presents the same Gospel again — Matthew every three years, Mark every three years, Luke every three years — the faithful hear it from a different point in their own spiritual life. The text does not change; the listener does. That is why spiritual tradition describes the journey of the liturgical cycle as a spiral path: one returns to the same passages, but each time from a different perspective.
Saint John Paul II explained it in Dies Domini: Sunday reveals the true meaning of time, acting as a comforting certainty against the fleetingness of human history. The liturgical cycle is, in this sense, the concrete instrument that ensures this certainty is renewed each week, throughout the Christian’s life.
Want to Learn More About the Liturgical Seasons?
Take a look at these articles that can help you deepen your understanding of the Church’s liturgical calendar:
- What Are the Four Sundays of Advent? Discover the meaning of each Sunday of Advent, the liturgical colors and their symbolism, and practical ways to prepare your heart for Christmas.
- What Is Lent and Why Does It Last 40 Days?Learn what Lent is, why it lasts forty days, when it begins, and how to live this sacred season through its rich spiritual practices.
- What Do Catholics Do During the Easter Triduum? A complete guide to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, explaining what Catholics celebrate during these sacred days and how to observe them with devotion and reverence.
- What Is the Easter Season and How Long Does It Last?A comprehensive guide to the Easter Season, including its meaning, Sundays, liturgical symbols, the Via Lucis, the Regina Caeli, and the 2026 liturgical calendar of celebrations.
What are the ABC liturgical cycles?
Cycles A, B, and C are the three letters that identify the triennial cycle of Sunday readings of the Catholic Church. Each letter is associated with a predominant synoptic Gospel: Cycle A corresponds to Saint Matthew, Cycle B to Saint Mark — supplemented by the sixth chapter of Saint John during five Sundays of Ordinary Time — and Cycle C to Saint Luke. The Gospel of Saint John does not have its own cycle and is reserved for liturgical seasons of greater theological density, such as Lent and Easter.
How many and what are the liturgical cycles?
There are two systems of liturgical cycles that operate simultaneously but independently. The first is the Sunday cycle, triennial, composed of Cycles A, B, and C, which regulates the readings for Sundays and solemnities. The second is the weekday cycle, biennial, composed of Year I and Year II, which regulates the first reading for weekdays of Ordinary Time. The weekday Gospel, unlike the weekday first reading, follows a single cycle that repeats identically each year.
Which liturgical cycle are we in?
The civil year 2026 corresponds to Cycle A of the Sunday liturgical cycle, centered on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. For weekday readings, 2026 corresponds to Year II. You can calculate the cycle for any year by dividing the civil year number by 3: if the remainder is 1, it is Cycle A; if it is 2, Cycle B; if the division is exact, it is Cycle C.
When does the liturgical cycle begin?
The liturgical cycle, strictly speaking, does not have a single starting point: it coexists with the liturgical year, which begins with the first Sunday of Advent, between late November and early December. However, in common practice, the liturgical cycle is identified with the civil year in which most of its Sundays occur. Thus, the 2026 liturgical cycle corresponds to the civil year 2026, even though it technically began with Advent in November 2025.
When does the liturgical cycle end?
The liturgical cycle of each year concludes with the Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, just before the next Advent begins. From that first Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical cycle is inaugurated, which will advance to the next letter in the A, B, C sequence.
When does the liturgical cycle change?
The liturgical cycle changes each year, with the first Sunday of Advent. That Sunday marks the end of the previous cycle and the beginning of the next within the triennial A, B, C sequence. The change of cycle always coincides with the beginning of the new liturgical year, not with the change of the civil year on January 1.
What is the 2026 liturgical cycle?
The 2026 liturgical cycle is Cycle A, centered on the proclamation of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew on Sundays and solemnities of the year. In parallel, the weekday readings for 2026 follow Year II of the biennial cycle corresponding to even civil years.
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