The Church’s year is divided up into times and seasons and each has a particular focus. These different times celebrate different aspects of the life of Jesus and are marked by different liturgical colours.
THE SEASON OF ADVENT
Advent Sunday is either the last Sunday in November or the first in December. The season of Advent covers the four Sundays before Christmas Day and all the weekdays between the first Sunday of Advent and Christmas Day. Advent is a season of spiritual preparation for the celebration of the birth and reign of Christ. Expectation rather than personal penitence is the central theme of the season. Purple, symbolising the sovereignty of Christ, is normally the liturgical colour.
The First Sunday of Advent
The Second Sunday of Advent
The Third Sunday of Advent
The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Christmas Eve
THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
This period is the celebration of the Birthday or First Coming of Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem, and the Son of God became man. The traditional colours of the season are White or Gold, symbolizing joy in the light of day.
Christmas Day
The First Sunday of Christmas
The Second Sunday of Christmas
EPIPHANY
This commemorates the spread of the Good News of Jesus to all nations on earth, beginning with the ‘epiphany’ or revealing or Jesus to the Wise Men from the East. It is observed on January 6th itself or the nearest Sunday to this date. The Sunday after Epiphany celebrates the Baptism of Jesus. Because of the variable date of Easter there are between two and six Sundays after Epiphany and so this season varies in length from year to year. The celebratory character of the season is reflected in the use of White or Gold as the liturgical colour.
The Epiphany (6th January)
The Baptism of Christ - The First Sunday of Epiphany
The Second Sunday of Epiphany
The Third Sunday of Epiphany
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
ORDINARY TIME
This begins on the day following the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas – celebrated on 2nd February) and continues until the Sunday next before Lent. The liturgical colour is green.
The Fifth Sunday before Lent
The Fourth Sunday before Lent
The Third Sunday before Lent
The Second Sunday before Lent
The Sunday Next before Lent
THE SEASON OF LENT
This is a solemn period of discipline, repentance and growth and lasts approximately forty days (not including Sundays). The period commemorates Jesus’ special preparation in the wilderness at the opening of his ministry. The season begins with Ash Wednesday, so called because on this day ashes are blessed and distributed in order to recall the Old Testament custom of casting aside expensive garments and putting on sackcloth and ashes to symbolise atonement from sin. The fourth Sunday in Lent is kept as Mothering Sunday. The fifth Sunday is called Passion Sunday.The season’s mood of penitence and simplicity is reflected in the use of the colour Purple. During Holy Week, the congregation follows the footsteps of Jesus from his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through the Last Supper of Maundy Thursday to his death on the Cross on Good Friday. Red, the colour of blood and therefore of martyrs, is the traditional colour for Palm Sunday and the next three days of Holy Week.
Ash Wednesday
The First Sunday of Lent
The Second Sunday of Lent
The Third Sunday of Lent
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Palm Sunday
Monday of Holy Week
Tuesday of Holy Week
Wednesday of Holy Week
THE EASTER TRIDUUM
The period of three days from the end of Lent on Wednesday of Holy Week until the Easter Vigil.
MAUNDY THURSDAY (or Holy Thursday)
This is the day when Christ instituted the celebration of the Last Supper immediately before he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here he was betrayed, and taken away for trial before Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest, in the early morning of Good Friday and afterwards condemned to death by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. On Maundy Thursday, White or Gold symbolizes the church’s rejoicing in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. But at the end of the Maundy Thursday celebration, the mood changes. All decorations are removed and the Holy Table is stripped bare.
GOOD FRIDAY
Jesus was crucified and after death his body was removed from the cross and placed in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. On Good Friday, Red is the customary colour, although the use of no colour at all is also appropriate.
HOLY SATURDAY
During this day there are no celebrations of Holy Communion. Near to midnight the Easter Vigil takes place in mnay churches, celebrating the fact that Christ has risen and destroyed the power of sin and death.
THE EASTER SEASON
This begins with the celebration of the Easter Vigil and continues until Pentecost. The season from Easter to Pentecost is also called the Great Fifty Days, a tradition inspired by the Jewish season of fifty days between Passover and Shavuot - the feast celebrating God's gift of his Law to Moses. The liturgical colour for this season is celebratory White or Gold.
EASTER SUNDAY
Jesus rose from the grave on the first day of the week (Sunday) and Christians celebrate this great event on a weekly basis. There follows the great Forty Days, when Christ appeared to the disciples, and others, teaching and preparing them for the time when he would no longer be with them.
Monday of Easter Week
Tuesday of Easter Week
Wednesday of Easter Week
Thursday of Easter Week
Friday of Easter Week
Saturday of Easter Week
The Second Sunday of Easter
The Third Sunday of Easter
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Fifth Sunday of Easter
The Sixth Sunday of Easter
ASCENSION DAY
This is the fortieth day after Easter and always falls on a Thursday and commemorates the day when Christ ascended to the Father.
PENTECOST (or Whitsunday)
This commemorates the disciples receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit after a period of ten days of waiting and prayer in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Pentecost is often known as the birthday of the Church. The liturgical colour is Red to remind us of fire, one of the main symbols of the Holy Spirit.
ORDINARY TIME
This is resumed on the Monday following the Day of Pentecost and continues until ‘Christ the King’' – The Sunday next before Advent. The liturgical colour is Green. Many churches observe the four Sundays before Advent as the ‘Kingdom Season’ and use Red as the liturgical colour.
TRINITY SUNDAY
This follows one week after Pentecost. Here the Church acknowledges the glory of the Eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For the remaining twenty five Sundays of the year the Church considers the great teachings and lessons of the faith. The liturgical colour is celebratory White or Gold.
CORPUS CHRISTI (the Feast of the Body of Christ)
This feast is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday as a special commemmoration of the institution of Holy Communion.
The First Sunday after Trinity
The Second Sunday after Trinity
The Third Sunday after Trinity
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity
The Sixth Sunday after Trinity
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity
The Eighth Sunday after Trinity
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
The Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity
The Last Sunday after Trinity
The Fourth Sunday before Advent or All Saints' Sunday
The Third Sunday before Advent
The Second Sunday before Advent
Christ the King - The Sunday next before Advent
SAINTS DAYS
These are when the Church honours its heroes. The Apostles are each commemorated and also some of the greatest of the Saints, and all are remembered on All Saints’ Day (1st November). The Blessed Virgin Mary is honoured on two days, the Purification or Candlemas (February 2nd), and the Annunciation or Lady Day (March 25th). |
