In the Margins: Preparing for the Purple Dawn

One of the best-kept secrets in our tradition is the Season of Advent. It is an increasingly counter-cultural choice to mark these weeks as sacred while the hustle and commercial demands of the “Holiday Season” engulf our calendars and our family activities. As the world around us gears up for Christmas, our Roman Catholic practice calls us to something different.

Beginning four Sundays before the great Feast of Christmas, our Church calendar welcomes the new liturgical year, Advent. It is a subtle unfolding amidst a great deal of hubbub. Here are some things to notice together in these coming weeks:

 

• Purple: the liturgical color for this season is a deep, royal purple. You will see it behind our crucifix, in the altar cloth and the priest's vestments, and woven throughout our Advent Wreath. This color might point us toward dawn: early sunrise bursting with the potential of a new day yet to come. In Advent’s metaphorical stillness before the birds begin to sing, we sit with the promise of a new beginning, and the lavish provision of our merciful God. 

 

• Music: The sung “mass arts” for these weeks (Holy, Memorial Acclamation, Amen, Lamb of God) will be set to the 8th century plainchant “Conditor alme siderum,” or “Creator of the stars of night.” This ancient tune will connect the liturgy from beginning to end, unite us with one another as we sing, but also tie our voices with the centuries of disciples past who have intoned this melody on dark Advent evenings.

 

• Scripture: many of the readings from these weeks fall into the categories of “prophetic” and “apocalyptic.” Prophetic in that they prophesy the coming of Jesus, and the Kingdom of God. Apocalyptic in that they depict a world turned upside down: we also live in a context of systems and institutions which groan to be shaken and upended by the coming of Christ.

With these breadcrumbs of what is to come in the next four weeks, I invite you to try attending Sunday Mass all four Sundays, and notice how this season invites us to stillness, communion, and ultimately transformation.


Maggie Warner
Director of Liturgy & Music