The Liturgical Seasons
The Liturgical Season
 The
calendar of the Church in which
determines when Feasts, Memorials,
Commemorations, and Solemnities
are to be observed and which
portions of Scripture are to be read
Advent
a time of preparation for Christmas
 during Advent we prepare our hearts to
“receive” Jesus into the world each year
as a light to the nations
 also a time of looking forward to Christ’s
Second Coming in the last days.


The third Sunday of Advent is called
Gaudete Sunday
The liturgical color for Advent is violet, a
deep bluish red (often mistakenly called
“purple”) symbolizing mourning and
penance.
 On Gaudete Sunday, however, rosecolored vestments may be used for this
joyful day.

Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath is part of
our long-standing Catholic
tradition.

pre-Christian Germanic peoples
using wreathes with lit candles
during the cold and dark
December days as a sign of hope
in the future warm and extendedsunlight days of Spring.
Advent Wreath

Scandinavia during
Winter, lighted candles
were placed around a
wheel, and prayers were
offered to the god of light
to turn “the wheel of the
earth” back toward the
sun to lengthen the days
and restore warmth
Advent Wreath
Christians adapted this
tradition and used Advent
wreathes as part of their
spiritual preparation for
Christmas
 Christ is “the Light that came
into the world” to dispel the
darkness of sin and to radiate
the truth and love of God (cf.
John 3:19-21)

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath
made of various evergreens,
signifying continuous life
 laurel signifies victory over
persecution and suffering
 pine,
holly,
and
yew,
immortality
 cedar, strength and healing

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath
Holly also has a special Christian
symbolism: The prickly leaves
remind us of the crown of thorns,
and one English legend tells of
how the cross was made of holly.
 The circle of the wreath, which
has no beginning or end,
symbolizes the eternity of God,
the immortality of the soul, and
the everlasting life found in
Christ.

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath

the wreath of evergreens depicts
the immortality of our soul and
the new, everlasting life promised
to us through Christ, the eternal
Word of the Father, who entered
our world becoming true man
and who was victorious over sin
and death through His own
passion, death, and resurrection
Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath
candles represent the four weeks
of Advent
 each week represents one
thousand years, to sum to the
4,000 years from Adam and Eve
until the Birth of the Savior
 Three candles are purple and one
is rose

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath
The purple candles in particular
symbolize the prayer, penance,
and preparatory sacrifices and
goods works undertaken.
 The rose candle is lit on the third
Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, when
the priest also wears rose
vestments at Mass

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath
Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday of
rejoicing, because the faithful
have arrived at the midpoint of
Advent, when their preparation is
now half over and they are close
to Christmas
 Some modern day adaptions
include a white candle placed in
the middle of the wreath, which
represents Christ and is lit on
Christmas Eve

Symbolisms of the Advent Wreath

Another tradition is to replace the
three purple and one rose
candles with four white candles,
which will be lit throughout
Christmas season.
Christmas (December 25)

the Church observes
the birth of Jesus

we celebrate the Word
become flesh, coming
to dwell among us as
the light of the human
race

The Octave of Christmas
(octave means eight;
hence the octave of
Christmas lasts for eight
days) begins with
Christmas day and
ends after the Solemnity
of Mary, Mother of
God.
Epiphany commemorates
the recognition of Jesus as
the Son of God by the
three Wise Men
 The season of Christmas
ends on the Monday after
the Solemnity of the
Baptism of the Lord,
which signifies the
purification of the world,
through Christ himself.

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All three gifts are
ordinary offerings and
gifts given to a king.
Myrrh being commonly
used as an anointing
oil, frankincense as a
perfume, and gold as a
valuable.

spiritual meaning :
gold as a symbol of
kingship on earth,
frankincense (an
incense) as a symbol of
priestship, and myrrh
(an embalming oil) as
a symbol of death.

gold symbolizing
virtue, frankincense
symbolizing prayer,
and myrrh symbolizing
suffering.

The liturgical color of
the season of
Christmas is white,
symbolizing purity and
joy.
Ordinary Time

Two periods in the Roman calendar are
called Ordinary Time
.
The first period “begins on Monday after the
Sunday following Epiphany and continues until
Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, inclusive ”
 The second period begins “on Monday after
Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the
First Sunday of Advent”
This time is called “ordinary” because it is,
well, ordinary; that is, not part of any
special liturgical season.
 Weekdays during Ordinary Time on which
no solemnities, feasts, or memorials of
saints fall are called ferial days.
 The liturgical color of Ordinary Time is
green, symbolizing life and hope.

Lent
The liturgical season of Lent by lasts for
40 weekdays in remembrance of the 40
days and nights that Christ spent fasting
in the desert, tempted Satan.
 The beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday,
is therefore dependent on the date of
Easter.

Easter
The season of Easter begins at the Easter Vigil
 the week previous to Easter is called Holy Week;
it begins with Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday).
 On Passion Sunday the Church celebrates
Christ’s riding into Jerusalem on a road strewn
with cloaks and leafy branches as he set about
to accomplish his paschal mystery

The season of Easter comes to a close,
and Ordinary Time returns, on the
Monday after Pentecost Sunday (from
the Greek pentekoste, fiftieth day) on
which we celebrate the descent of the
Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13).
 The liturgical color of the season of Easter
is white, symbolizing purity and joy.


Red, the color of passion, is used on
Passion (Palm) Sunday and Good Friday.
Red, symbolizing fire, is also used on
Pentecost Sunday.
a time of penance, so that the faithful
may share in the joys of Easter Sunday
with purity of heart
 The three traditional forms of penance,
fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, “express
conversion in relation to oneself, to God,
and to others” (Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 1434)


The liturgical color of Lent is violet, just as
for Advent. Rose-colored vestments,
however, may be used on the Fourth
Sunday of Lent, called Laetare Sunday
from the first words of that day’s Introit
at Mass, Laetare Jerusalem (“Rejoice, O
Jerusalem”).
The Liturgical Colors

White (light, innocence, purity, joy, triumph,
glory)
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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)
Feasts of the Apostles
Nuptial Masses
Masses for the dead (Requiem Masses) when the
deceased is a baptized child who died before the age of
reason

Red (the Passion, blood, fire, God’s Love,
martyrdom)
 Feasts
of the Lord's passion, Blood, and Cross
 Feasts of the martyrs
 Palm Sunday
 Pentecost

Green (the Holy Ghost, life eternal,
hope)
 Time
After Epiphany
 Time After Pentecost

Violet
(penance, humility, melancholy)
 Season
of Advent
 Season of Septuagesima
 Season of Lent
 Rogation Days
 Ember Days (except for Pentecost Ember
Days)
 Vigils except for Ascension and Pentecost
 Good Friday

Black (mourning, sorrow)
 All
Souls Day
 Masses for the dead (Requiem Masses),
except for baptized children who've died
before the age of reason

Rose (joy)
 Gaudete
Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent)
 Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent)
The Holy Days of Obligation

Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
 Pius
IX pronounced and defined that the
Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of
her conception, by a singular privilege and
grace granted by God, in view of the merits of
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race,
was preserved exempt from all stain of
original sin."
Christmas Day (December 25)
 Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary
(Jan.1)
