For sections 187 through 191, the directory looks at “Times of Pious Marian Exercises.” Let’s start with Marian feasts, the most obvious link between liturgy and piety.
187. Practically all Marian devotions and pious exercises are in some way related to the liturgical feasts of the General Calendar of the Roman Rite or of the particular calendars of dioceses and religious families. Sometimes, a particular devotion antedates the institution of the feast (as is the case with the feast of the Holy Rosary), in other instances, the feast is much more ancient than the devotion (as with the Angelus Domini). This clearly illustrates the relationship between the Liturgy and pious exercises, and the manner in which pious exercises find their culmination in the celebration of the feast. In so far as liturgical, the feast refers to the history of salvation and celebrates a particular aspect of the relationship of the Virgin Mary to the mystery of Christ. The feast, however, must be celebrated in accordance with liturgical norm, and bear in mind the hierarchal difference between “liturgical acts” and associated “pious exercises” (Cf. n. 232).
It should not be forgotten that a feast of the Blessed Virgin, in so far as it is popular manifestation, also has important anthropological implications that cannot be overlooked.
The curia of a decade ago was certainly concerned about hewing to the faithful line. We hear again of the concern to keep liturgy first and central.
The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy is online at the Vatican site.
Catholic Sensibility 