LITURGICAL COLORS

What Do the Church’s Colors Mean?

 

Have you ever noticed the color of the priest’s vestments at Mass?Those colors are not random. The Church uses colors as signs to help us understand what season or feast we are celebrating and what God is teaching us.

🟢 Green – Growing in Faith

What it means: Hope • Growth • Life

When it’s used: Ordinary Time

Green reminds us that our faith is meant to grow, just like plants grow. During Ordinary Time, we learn how to follow Jesus in our everyday lives.

🔴 Red – Love, Sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit

What it means: Love • Sacrifice • Courage

When it’s used:

• Palm Sunday

• Good Friday

• Pentecost

• Feasts of Apostles and Martyrs

Red reminds us of Jesus’ great love, the sacrifice He made for us, and the fire of the Holy Spirit who gives us courage to live our faith.

🟣 Purple – Preparing Our Hearts

What it means: Waiting • Repentance • Preparation

When it’s used: Advent and Lent

Purple is a quiet and thoughtful color. It reminds us to prepare our hearts, pray more, and turn back to God as we wait for Jesus.

🌸 Pink (Rose) – Rejoice!

What it means: Joy — “Something good is coming!”

When it’s used:

• 3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)

• 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

Pink is used only twice each year. It reminds us to rejoice, because Christmas or Easter is very close.

🟡 White and Gold – Celebration and Glory

What it means: Joy • Glory • Purity

When it’s used:

• Christmas

• Easter

• Feasts of Mary

• Saints who were not martyrs

White and gold are joyful colors. They celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death and God’s goodness.

Why Does the Church Use Colors? (CCC Connection)

The Church teaches that God uses visible signs to help us understand His invisible mysteries.

“In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs.”— Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1146

Liturgical colors are holy signs that help us pray, learn, and enter more deeply into what we celebrate at Mass(see CCC 1145–1152).

Look and Learn at Mass

The next time you are at Mass, look at the priest’s vestments and ask:

What color do I see today? What season or feast are we celebrating? What is God teaching us?

The Church’s colors help guide us as we grow closer to Jesus throughout the year.