The Color of Lent and Advent

Strong seasons in the Roman Catholic calendar are corridors for shifts in consciousness. Preparing for birth, for death and resurrection is a journey in which we hope, pray, fear, and cast. In these long waiting weeks, we read and remember stories that guide us through dark times. We light candles. We fast. We alter our inner and outer environment to match a psychological process, as well as what is going on around us with nature, with weather, temperature, and light. We follow the sun. Vestments are violet during both these antecedent periods. After each holiday the temporal calendar is restored to ordinary time. But we are never the same, for having gone through the transformation, if it is practiced mindfully.