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Faith Embodied in Jesus & in the People Around Him
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Sundays & Solemnities of the Christmas Season
Mystic Nativity (detail) - Sandro Botticelli
The Christmas season includes a number of feasts and solemnities that celebrate the Incarnation—our belief that Christ, the second person of God, became a human being and lived among us. During the Christmas season, we reflect on the Incarnation as we recall stories about Jesus among family, neighbors, and strangers, as an infant, as a child, and as a young man.
On this page, we discuss six liturgical celebrations concerning the life of Jesus before his adult ministry began. Two (Christmas Day and Epiphany) are days that the church-attending faithful celebrate at Mass every year. The other four are days of obligation in some liturgical years but not in others. Click on each celebration listed below to jump to that particular section of this page.
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Solemnity of the Nativity (holyday or Sunday obligation every year)
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Feast of the Holy Family (is on a Sunday 6 of every 7 years)
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Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (holyday or Sunday obligation 5 of every 7 years)
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Solemnity of the Epiphany (is on a Sunday in the United States every year)
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Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (is on a Sunday 5 of every 7 years)
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Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (is on a Sunday 1 of every 7 years)
Please also visit our Lectionary Guide for the Daily Masses of the Christmas Season. -
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The Incarnation: God "Constricted" Into a Human Being!
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Christians believe that God's plan for the salvation of all people centered on being born as a vulnerable human into the complexities of the first-century Middle East, dependent on other people to provide his safety and education. As we enter into the stories of the young Jesus—especially those in his earliest years—let us contemplate, like Mary, whom Luke twice tells us "kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19, 51).
Madonna and child, Tenderness - Patricia Brintle (used with permission)
Brian Wren expresses the mystery of the Incarnation in his hymn "Birthsong":Her baby, newly breathing, with wailing needful cry,
by Mary kissed and cradled, is lulled in lullaby.
Long months of hope and waiting, the thrill and fear of birth,
are crowned with exultation, and God is on the earth.
The eyes that gaze at Mary have yet to name or trace
the world of shape and color, or recognize a face;
yet Holiness Eternal is perfectly expressed
in hands that clutch unthinking, and lips that tug the breast.
The milk of life is flowing as Mary guides and feeds
her wordless Word, embodied, in infant joys and needs.
Enormous, formless strivings, and yearnings deep and wide,
becradled in communion, are fed and satisfied.
How motherlike the wisdom that carried and gave birth
to all things, seen and unseen, and nurtured infant earth:
unstinting, unprotected, prepared for nail and thorn,
constricted into maleness, and of a woman born.
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Liturgical Technicalities
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Oddities of a Season Based on a Calendar Date
Most celebrations attached to liturgical seasons are assigned to certain days of the week. For example, the Solemnity of the Resurrection (Easter) always falls on a Sunday, and Lent always begins on a Wednesday. Christmas Day, however, is affixed to a calendar date, December 25. This leads to some rather unusual conditions concerning how the season is celebrated.
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The Beginning & Ending Dates of the Christmas Season
For the Church, Christmas begins at 4 pm on the vigil of Christmas Day (Christmas Eve, December 24). This is about three days after the winter solstice, when people in many parts of the northern hemisphere can begin to detect that the days are getting longer again. The preceding weeks are part of a different season called Advent, which you can read about here and here.
Neopolitan Baroque Creche - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (credit: Wally Gobetz)
There are three possible ending dates for the Christmas season.
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The popular answer: Most Catholics think of the season as ending on the Solemnity of the Epiphany, which is traditionally celebrated on January 6. This is where we get the idea of Christmas having twelve days.
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The liturgically-correct answer: The season technically ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is also considered the first day of Ordinary Time.
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The Italian answer: In Rome, all churches and many households keep their nativity scenes on display through the 40th day after Christmas Day, which is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2. So, if you enjoy your Christmas decorations, there's nothing wrong with keeping them up until then!
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The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
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Christmas Eve (December 24 after 4 pm) & Christmas Day (December 25)
Adoration of the Shepherds - Gerrit van Honthorst
Christmas is the second most important day of the Church year, with the first being Easter Sunday and its Great Vigil. And like some other important days of the liturgical year, it can be celebrated the evening before.
The Church has four prescribed sets of readings that can be proclaimed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, each with an accompanying set of prayers. The Vigil Mass (Matthew 1:1 - 25) discusses the events preceding Jesus' birth. Mass During the Night a.k.a. "Midnight Mass" (Luke 2:1 - 14) focuses on the moments surrounding Jesus' birth. Mass at Dawn (Luke 1:15 - 20) is about the events immediately after Jesus' birth, and Mass During the Day (John 1:1 - 18) is a deeper theological reflection on the impact of the Word becoming flesh.
Some dioceses/parishes will strictly use the assigned readings and prayers at the proper time of day; others will be more flexible in allowing the various readings to be proclaimed at any time on the evening of December 24 or at any point on December 25.
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The Feast of the Holy Family
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Celebrated on a Sunday or a Friday Between December 25 and January 1
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The Holy Family - Michael Moyers
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The Holy Family - Janet McKenzie
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The Holy Family - Eva Campbell
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This feast falls on the Sunday in between Christmas Day and New Year's Day... unless there is no Sunday in between, in which case, it is celebrated on Friday, December 30. This feast has a different set of readings for Years A, B & C of the Sunday cycle. With each set of readings, we can consider how our families are like the Holy Family, rather than focusing on how Jesus, Mary and Joseph are different from us. Is there something in their interactions with one another that can inform us how to better live in relationship with our loved ones?
The Holy Family Resting - The Flight Into Egypt - Anna Hyatt Huntington (David Shane)In Year A, Joseph receives dreams from an angel, directing him to take his family to Egypt until Herod dies and then to move them to Nazareth (Matthew 2:13 - 15, 19 - 23). In Year B, Joseph and Mary present Jesus in the Jerusalem temple and are greeted by the prophets Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:22 - 40; more on this at the bottom of the page). In Year C, Joseph and Mary lose track of the 12-year-old Jesus for three days when returning from a Passover celebration in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41 - 52).
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The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
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Celebrated on January 1
Our Lady of Czestochowa
Christians have had a devotion to Mary under the title of Theotokos (Greek: "God bearer" or "Mother of God") since at least the third century, and the title was recognized as dogma by the Council of Ephesus in 431. To learn more about this fascinatingly complicated council, please check out this homily.
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is celebrated on January 1 every year, but it is only a holyday of obligation for Catholics when it falls on five of the seven days of the week. (When it falls on a Saturday, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Epiphany on January 2 takes precedence. When it falls on a Monday, the Feast of the Holy Family on December 31 takes precedence.)
Since 1968, the Church has also observed January 1 as the World Day of Peace, although the readings and prayers are always taken from the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
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The Solemnity of the Epiphany
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Celebrated in the United States on the Sunday after January 1
The Magi - Henry Siddons Mowbray
In many ways, Epiphany is the culmination of the Christmas season. Persian astrologers, with no direct tie to the Jewish faith, still recognize Jesus as the Christ. Therefore, this celebration is seen as the fulfillment of the Messiah becoming the light to all nations. It is a great day to pray for our friends and loved ones who are spiritual seekers, no matter what religion they practice, if any.
Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on January 6, making its vigil the celebrated "Twelfth Night" of Christmas. In many parts of the world, the biggest celebrations of the Christmas season are on Epiphany, with parades and gift-giving. In the United States, however, since Christmas Day is the larger celebration, the Solemnity of the Epiphany has been transferred to the Sunday after the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
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The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
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Celebrated in the U.S. Between January 8 - 13, Either on a Sunday or a Monday
The Baptism of the Lord - artist unknownIn countries where Epiphany is observed on January 6, the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany. This is also true in the United States, unless Epiphany is observed on January 7 or 8. In those cases, the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the day after Epiphany, so that all nations are observing the remainder of the First Week of Ordinary Time together. Therefore, in the United States, the date of the Baptism of the Lord is anywhere between January 8 and 13, which may be on a Sunday or a Monday.
As this feast begins Ordinary Time, you can find the readings near the top of our pages for Year A, Year B and Year C.
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The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, "Candlemas"
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Celebrated on February 2
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple - Jesus Mafa
Luke 2:22-40 tells us that on the 40th day after Jesus' birth, Joseph and Mary presented him in the Jerusalem temple, as all Jewish families were prescribed by Leviticus to do with their first-born sons. There, they were greeted by the prophets Simeon and Anna. Every year on February 2, the 40th day of Christmas, we celebrate this. When it falls on a Sunday, it takes precedence over the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Traditionally, we bless new candles this day to celebrate Christ as the light of the world. (This is convenient for the celebration of the Memorial of St. Blase on February 3, when we use unlit candles to bless throats!) The Feast of the Presentation, also called "Candlemas," has the option of beginning with a candlelight procession from another location. Since consecrated sisters, brothers, and priests are considered to live prophetic lives, this celebration which includes Simeon and Anna has also been designated since 1997 as the World Day for Consecrated Life.
On Christmas Day, we in the northern hemisphere can barely perceive that the days are getting longer again, but by February 2, the days are noticeably longer. In fact, we're halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. And yes: the Presentation of the Lord is related to Groundhog Day! You can check out this homily to learn more.
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