it\u2019s not pink! <\/em><\/p>\nThe color, in fact, is called \u201crose.\u201d It\u2019s a subtle difference, but it has a more subdued shade than pink. Liturgists will tell you it signifies rejoicing, and signals a spirit of joyful hope during Lent and now, during Advent.\u00a0 It breaks the more somber tone of those penitential times of the year.\u00a0 Thinking about that, I would argue other colors convey that, too \u2013 for example, why don\u2019t we wear yellow or gold?<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019ll be honest with you: I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
But I did some Googling and found someone who does.\u00a0 And what I found, I think, puts Advent, and this particular Sunday, into a beautiful context.<\/p>\n
This comes from Brother Hyacinth Cordell, a Dominican, who wrote about all this online several years ago.\u00a0 Br. Cordell noted that nature\u2019s cycle is comprised of two things: life and light.\u00a0 The seasons revolve around that\u2014the rejuvenation of spring and summer, the desolation of fall and winter.\u00a0 Our liturgical seasons follow a similar pattern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dark color of violet in Advent,\u201d he wrote, \u201charmonizes well with the diminishing sunlight late in the year.\u201d\u00a0 It also points to royalty, and Christ as our King.<\/p>\n
But what about rose?<\/p>\n
Br. Cordell described it this way:<\/p>\n
\u201cRose,\u201d he wrote, \u201cis a softening of violet. It is violet\u00a0approaching<\/em>\u00a0white. In this sense, it\u00a0anticipates\u00a0<\/em>the pure white of the Birth and Resurrection of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\nThink about that, and all that it signifies.<\/p>\n
The fact is: we stand before you today, wearing these vestments, bearing witness to what is to come. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nWeek after week, I proclaim the gospel from this pulpit, reading from a book. But this week, in a sense, I proclaim it not only with words, but also with what you see before you: a color.<\/p>\n
Rose.<\/p>\n
Rose:<\/em> a color that foreshadows the miracle of God\u2019s incarnation, the purity of Emmanuel.<\/p>\nRose<\/em>: a color that is named for a delicate and sweet-scented blossom of hope, a symbol of eternal love\u2014the kind of love that would bring into the world, in the most humble of places, and the most unlikely of times, the Son of God.<\/p>\nThe reading from Isaiah this Sunday speaks of a flowering in the desert:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe desert and the parched land will exult;
\nthe steppe will rejoice and bloom.
\nThey will bloom with abundant flowers,
\nand rejoice with joyful song.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gospel, too, points to a kind of flowering in the desert\u2014a flowering of prophetic hope in John the Baptist, the forerunner.<\/p>\n
For us today, the color rose is a sign of life in a place that is parched<\/strong>\u2014the desert of human existence, our human existence, the very place Christ came to redeem.<\/p>\nThese vestments echo that \u2013 and I should mention that you also see it here on the altar, where the Advent wreath has one rose-colored candle bringing more light as we draw closer to Christmas, closer to Christ.\u00a0 You may also have noticed the wreaths hanging around the church this Sunday\u2014evergreen reminders of growth and life.<\/p>\n
Here and now, the solemnity of Advent gives way to joy.<\/strong> Light breaks through.\u00a0 Everything in this sacred space suddenly bears the color and the promise of new life.<\/p>\nThis is what we cling to, and hope for, in the final days of Advent.<\/p>\n
The words of a great 15th<\/sup> century carol say it better than I can\u2014reminding us that the color we wear today points to a promise about to be fulfilled.<\/p>\nLo, how a Rose e\u2019er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
\nOf Jesse\u2019s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.<\/p>\n
This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
\nDispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first thing to know is that this color is not pink. Twice a year, once during Lent and once during Advent, we wear these vestments and people routinely call them \u201cpink.\u201d\u00a0 Just yesterday, David James, the head of our altar servers said to me before Mass, \u201cDeacon, I\u2019ve been meaning to tell you this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n