Through the liturgical year the Church walks with Christ through the whole mystery of salvation, from His coming to His return in glory. Each season has its own colour, readings and spirit.

• Advent (violet) – four weeks of joyful preparation for Christmas and for Christ’s second coming.
• Christmas (white) – the celebration of the birth of the Lord, through to the Baptism of the Lord.
• Lent (violet) – forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, beginning on Ash Wednesday.
• The Sacred Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, the high point of the whole year.
• Easter (white) – fifty days of rejoicing in the Resurrection, ending at Pentecost (red).
• Ordinary Time (green) – the weeks in which we follow the teaching and ministry of Jesus and grow in discipleship.

Feasts of Our Lady and the saints are celebrated throughout the year, often in white, while martyrs are honoured in red.

Read further: paragraphs 1163–1173 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican website).