Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Places mentioned in The Liturgy of this Season,
where Our Lord gave proofs of His Divinity,
with The Apostles, who gave testimony of this Divinity,
and whose Feasts occur in the same Season.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
where Our Lord gave proofs of His Divinity,
with The Apostles, who gave testimony of this Divinity,
and whose Feasts occur in the same Season.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: Rene de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
LITURGICAL NOTE.
The Time After Epiphany begins on the day following The Octave Day of The Feast (14 January), and lasts, so far as The Temporal Cycle is concerned, until Septuagesima, and, in The Sanctoral Cycle, until The Purification (2 February).
While Christmas and The Epiphany, always falling on 25 December and 6 January, respectively, make The Christmas Cycle to a large extent fixed in character, The Easter Cycle, since it is essentially dependent on The Paschal Moon, is of necessity moveable.
Further, when Easter, which can fall between 22 March and 25 April, occurs early, The Ninth Sunday preceding it, i.e., Septuagesima, encroaches on The Time After Epiphany, which, normally including five Sundays, is in this way sometimes reduced to one or two Sundays.
Green, the emblem of hope, is the colour of Vestments for The Time After Epiphany, as also for The Time After Pentecost. It is, in fact, the ruling colour in Nature. Saint Paul says that he that plougheth should plough in hope of gathering the fruits of his labour, and in the same way in this Time After Epiphany, the field of The Church, sown with The Doctrine and The Mighty Works of Our Lord, abounds with fresh shoots giving promise of a rich harvest.
An echo of Christmastide, this Season has, for it characteristic note, a Holy Joy; that of having, in The Person of Christ, a God, "mighty in work and word". For us, also, there is the joy of sharing in His Kingdom on Earth, while confidently hoping that, at His Return, He will give us a place for all Eternity in His Kingdom in Heaven.