Liturgical Year/Season

Ordinary Time

"Ordinary" comes from the same root as our word "ordinal", and in this sense means "the counted weeks". Ordinary Time consists of 33 or 34 Sundays and is divided into two sections. The first portion extends from the day following the Feast of the Baptism of Christ until the day before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent).

Evergreen

"represent the hope of eternal life brought by Jesus Christ"

BLACK - mourning, sorrow (optional usage)

All Souls Day Masses for the dead (Requiem Masses), except for baptized children who've died before the age of reason.

RED - the Passion, blood, fire, God's love, Martyrdom

Feasts of the Lord's Passion, Blood, and Cross Palm Sunday Pentecost Feasts of the Apostles Feasts of the Martyrs Note: Red is the color of Cardinals' non-liturgical dress

ROSE - joy (optional usage)

Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent) Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

VIOLET - penance, humility, melancholy

Season of Advent Season of Lent Good Friday Vigils except for Ascension and Pentecost Note: Violet, literally "amaranth red," is the color of Bishops', Archbishops', and Patriarchs' non-liturgical dress

White-light, innocence, purity, joy, triumph, glory

Season of Christmas Season of Easter Feasts of the Lord, other than of His Passion Feasts of Mary, the angels, and saints who were not martyrs All Saints (1 November) Nuptial Masses Masses for the dead (Requiem Masses) when the deceased is a baptized child who died before the age of reason. Note: White is the color of Popes' non-liturgical dress. White can be replaced by Silver.

GREEN - the Holy Spirit, life eternal, hope

Time After Epiphany Time After Pentecost

BLUE - symbol of the Virgin Mary

Usually worn on Mary's Feast Day

White candle

Christ Candle

Christmas Season

Christmastide follows, beginning with First Vespers of Christmas on the evening of December 24. Ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Traditionally, the end of Christmastide was February 2, or the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. This feast recounts the 40 days of rest Mary took before being purified and presenting her first-born son to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Eastertide

Easter is the celebration of Jesus' Resurrection. It shows how Jesus' defeated death. It is the most important season of the year. St. Paul tells us that without Jesus resurrection, our faith would be in vain. For Christians, His Resurrection is the guarantee that all the Christian dead will be resurrected at Christ's Second Coming. The date of Easter varies from year to year, according to a lunar-calendar dating system. In the Roman Rite, the Easter season extends from the Easter Vigil through Pentecost Sunday. By a decree of May 5, 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Day itself), is known also in the Roman Rite as the Feast of the Divine Mercy. Ascension Thursday, which celebrates the return of Jesus to heaven following his Resurrection, is the fortieth day of Easter, but, in places where it is not observed as a Holy Day of Obligation, the post-1969 form of the Roman rite transfers it to the following Sunday. Pentecost is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter season. It celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, which traditionally marks the birth of the Church.

GOLD - joy (optional usage)

Gold can replace white, red, or green (but not violet or black)

Liturgical Color (Ordinary Season)

Green = symbolizes life and growth. The opportunity to allow the Lord to stir up our faith, to allow our spirits to rise and grow in our spiritual life.

3 purple candles

Hope Faith Love

Advent Season

It comes from the Latin word "adventus" which means "arrival" or "coming". It is the first season of the liturgical year. It begins four Sundays before Christmas, the Sunday falling on or nearest to November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve.

Lenten Season

Lent is the period of purification and penance that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. Lent is a major penitential season of preparation for Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and, if the penitential days of Good Friday and Holy Saturday are included, lasts for forty days, since the six Sundays within the season are not counted.

Other Liturgical Colors

Liturgical Colors and their meanings. The different colors are drawn from creation to remind those participating in liturgy of the different blessings of God. A brief summary of their usage, according to the church year, follows;

Liturgical color (Easter/Paschal Triduum)

Red = it evokes the color of blood and the color of martyrs and Christ's death.

Easter/Paschal Triduum

The Holy Thursday evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, it also marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum, which includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. During the day of Good Friday Mass is not celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. Holy Saturday commemorates the day during which Christ lay in the tomb. In the Roman Catholic Church, there is no Mass on this day; the Easter Vigil Mass, which, though celebrated properly at the following midnight, is often celebrated in the evening, is an Easter Mass. The days of the Easter Triduum recall Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, death on the cross, burial, and resurrection.

Liturgical Year

The Liturgical Year, also known as the Church Year or Christian Year, as well as the Calendar. It consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read either in an annual cycle or in a cycle of several years. The Roman Catholic Church sets aside certain days and seasons of each year to recall and celebrate various events in the life of Christ.

Ordinary Season

The rest of the liturgical year is commonly known as Ordinary Time.

Liturgical Color (advent)

Violet or Purple = represents period of preparation and repentance. 1st, 2nd and 4th Sunday of Advent. Pink = it represents a time of joy amid a period of penance and prayer. 3rd Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

Liturgical Color (Lenten)

Violet or Purple = represents period of preparation and repentance. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Sunday of Lent: Lautare Sunday. Pink = it represents a time of joy amid a period of penance and prayer. 4th Sunday of Lent.

Liturgical Color (Christmas)

White = symbol of light and purity. It speaks of youth, happiness, the harvest, hospitality, love and benevolence.

Liturgical Color (Eastertide)

White, but Red on the Feast of Pentecost

Advent wreath

a wreath of evergreen foliage in which four candles are set, one to be lit on each Sunday of Advent.

Liturgical Calendar

begins every year during the month of November on the First Sunday of Advent and runs through to the Solemnity of Christ the King.

Pink candle

joy

Seasons of the Liturgical Calendar In each cycle of the Liturgical Calendar, you will find six Seasons:

• Advent Season • Christmas Season • Lenten Season • Triduum • Easter Season • Ordinary Time