Liturgical Year and Colors

All we do as the People of God centers round the Pascal Mystery – the Life, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our rhythm of celebrating the Pascal Mystery occurs in three clocks: daily in the Liturgy of the Hours, weekly on the Lord’s Day, and annually in the Liturgical Year.

By recalling the mysteries of our redemption in this way, the Church opens us to the riches of her Lord’s powers and merits, so that they are made present to us.  It’s as if the Pascal Mystery is too much for us to take in all at once, and we need to break it into bite-sized pieces. 

Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent and ending with the Feast of Christ the King the Church celebrates the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The year itself is broken down into three distinct periods.

The first of these periods is Advent and Christmas.  We anticipate, then celebrate God coming into human history.  The second period is Lent and Easter where we enter into the events that led up to Jesus’ death and then celebrate his resurrection and ascension into heaven.  The final period we call “Ordinary” Time, but there’s nothing ordinary about it.  The word “ordinary” comes from the word “ordinal,” which is how the weeks are numbered: first, second, third, etc.

Each of these seasons have a different feel to them and we can recognize the change of season by the different color vestments the clergy wear as well as the colors of our banners and altar decorations. 

The use of colors to differentiate the liturgical seasons became a common practice about the fourth century.  Today, four colors are used to express the emotions and ideas that are associated with each of the seasons of the liturgical year.

Purple is the ancient royal color and is a sign of repentence.  We wear it during Advent and Lent.

White reminds us of the brightness of day and that Jesus is the Light of the World.  We wear it during the Christmas and Easter seasons as well as for the great feasts of the year.

Red evokes the color of blood, and is the color of martyrs and Christ’s death on the cross.  It is also worn on the feasts of the Apostles.        

And the rest of the year, when we’re counting out our Ordinal Time?  We wear green which represents living things and the promise of new life.