A:Here at St. Dunstan’s we use several colors to indicate the season of the church year: purple for Advent and Lent, white for Christmas and Easter, green for the seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost, and red for Pentecost. At times we also use blue, gold, dark red, and unbleached linen. Here is the reason for the colors...

Purple is the color for the seasons of preparation, Advent and Lent. When you see purple, it signifies a ferial season, i.e. one in which fasting and penitence are appropriate. Sometimes we use blue during Advent, because it is the color of hope and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Lent we also use unbleached linen, off-white in color, because it suggests sackcloth as a symbol of penitence.

White is the color for the seasons of celebration, Christmas and Easter, and for special festal days such as All Saints’. Much as a bride wears a beautiful white dress on her wedding day, so white symbolizes the great joy we have because of Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection. White is also used at funerals and memorial services to symbolize the resurrection, where once we used black. Sometimes we use gold at Christmas or Easter to symbolize the riches we have in Christ.

Red is the color for the Holy Spirit because it looks like fire. It is also used for the bishop’s visit because he represents the first apostles, who had tongues of fire appear over their heads on the first Pentecost. Dark red is the color for Holy Week and the commemoration of martyrs because it looks like blood.

Green is the color for the ordinary seasons, the time after Epiphany and Pentecost. Because these two seasons account for over half the year, it is the color we see the most in our church. Green symbolizes the growth of life in the church. We use these colors because we want our worship to touch all our senses---seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching. Fr. David Montzingo

If you have a pastoral, theological, or liturgical question you would like Fr. David to answer, please send it to the church office or e-mail it to dmontzingo@ stdunstans.org.