St. Thomas

Question:Father, what do the different colors mean?
Answer: This week, we’ll tackle what the different liturgical colors symbolize. Green symbolizes: hope, life, and anticipation. It is worn during Ordinary time; the season that looks at the main public ministry of Jesus with the teachings and miracles. It’s the normal color of the year. Just as we look out and see the green of grass and leaves much of the year as a background, the church uses that color as Her basic background color. White symbolized: purity, joy, light, victory, and glory. It’s the color of Christmas, Easter, and the major solemnities of the Church. Violet /purple symbolizes: penance, preparation, and sacrifice. It’s worn during Advent and Lent. You may notice some church use a redder violet in Lent and a bluer indigo/purple in Advent. The redder violet calls to mind the blood of Christ and the bluer purple the color of the heavens, with the Son of God coming down to earth. Red symbolizes: blood, fire, and passion. It’s the color of Christ’s Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, the color of martyrs who shed their blood for the faith, and fire for the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We covered rose a few weeks ago – symbolizing rejoicing in a penitential season. We also have black, though it isn’t commonly used any longer after the Second Vatican Council. Black symbolizes: death and mourning. It was the color used for funerals and All Souls Day in the past, though we tend to wear white now, focusing upon the promise of the Resurrection (symbolized by white).