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Purple to White
Lent is a time set aside for reflection and during this time, purple represents our time spent in penance and sacrifice, preparing for the bright white of Christ’s victory over death.
When we are baptized, we enter into a relationship with Christ and begin our journey to the cross. While Lent may be the time dedicated to reflection, as Catholics we recognize that the road we travel with Him is never easy and it is filled with times of suffering and sacrifice. At times, we forget that in our suffering, He suffers with us and truly does carry us when we need Him most. In life, we often find ourselves wearing purple, simply because we carry Christ with us throughout our journey.
Consider for a moment the irony of majesty associated with purple and that because it was so rare, it was reserved only for the finest cloaks and worn by royalty. The soldiers placed the purple cloak on the beaten body of Our Lord and Savior to mock Him. As followers of Christ, we must willingly accept the purple cloak of His suffering and walk forward without fear toward the white light of His victory.
It is difficult to reflect on what is to come when suffering the death of someone we love. Our suffering may so intense that we may not choose to see the bright light of salvation. Christ took on the cloak of suffering to understand us and to journey with us through life’s everyday struggles. When we truly accept Him, we find that the purple cloth of penance and sacrifice is replaced with the white cloak of the Resurrection. Christ takes from us the purple cloth that life places on our shoulders and replaces it with the white cloak of the Resurrection.
Christ understands us, He suffers with us, and we know that through Him we find peace.
God bless,
Andrej Lah
Director of Cemeteries
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