Penitential Purple
Posted by james0235 on February 5, 2008
When considering a color scheme for this blog I originally chose purple as it was the 1st Sunday of Advent. My original thought was that maybe I would change the color throughout the Liturgical Year. Most of the year this would leave the color green – the color of Ordinary Time or the Time after Epiphany and the Time after Pentecost. Green just happens to be my favorite color. So, I thought I had everything figured out.
But as Advent was coming to a close and and an early Lent was fast approaching (Lent begins of February 6th this year and February 4th is the earliest date possible for it) I began to think more and more about these penitential Seasons as well as the Season of Septuagesima in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (the 3 Sundays before Lent) which also shares the color purple with Advent and Lent.
I have decided to keep “penitential purple” year-round as a reminder to myself that it penance is not something to think about only during Advent and Lent. Rather, the whole of Christian life “ought to be a continual penance” (Council of Trent, Session XIV).
