Lectionary: Movable Feasts during the Christmas Season

The Roman Catholic Lectionary for Mass
(1981 Latin & 1998 USA Editions)
compiled by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Movable Feasts during the Christmas Season

The lengths of the liturgical Seasons of Advent and Christmas vary from year to year, depending on what weekday Dec. 25 occurs in any particular year. The exact dates of several other feasts celebrated annually during the Christmas Season also vary.

Moreover, the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on different days in various countries and dioceses today; either it is observed on Jan. 6 (the traditional date, usually a weekday) or it is transferred to the Sunday between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8 (in most U.S. dioceses today). There is no difference if Jan. 6 itself is a Sunday (as in 2008, 2013, 2019), in which case the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated everywhere on the following Sunday, Jan. 13. In places where Epiphany is NOT transferred to a Sunday, then the "Second Sunday after Christmas" (as on Jan. 3, 2010) has a different set of prescribed readings.

The colored cells in the following charts indicate days when the readings are from the Gospel of John and/or the First Letter of John (see the notes below for more details). See my main Lectionary Webpages for complete lists of all the readings for each day.

If Epiphany is transferred to a Sunday
(as done in the U.S.A. and some other countries; thus it occurs between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8)

Year	1Adv	4Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
2005-06 B 2011-12 B	11/27	12/18	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6	7	8 Ep	9 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.
2005-06 B 2011-12 B	11/27	12/25	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6	7	8 Ep	9 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.
2006-07 C (leap)	12/3	12/24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31 HF	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6	7 Ep	8 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.
2007-08 A 2012-13 C	12/2	12/23	.	25	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6 Ep	7	8	9	10	11	12	13 Bap
(leap) 2013-14 A	12/1	12/22	.	.	25	26	27	28	29 HF	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5 Ep	6	7	8	9	10	11	12 Bap
2008-09 B 2014-15 B	11/30	12/21	.	.	.	25	26	27	28 HF	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4 Ep	5	6	7	8	9	10	11 Bap
2009-10 C 2015-16 C	11/29	12/20	.	.	.	.	25	26	27 HF	28	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3 Ep	4	5	6	7	8	9	10 Bap
2010-11 A	11/28	12/19	.	.	.	.	.	25	26 HF	27	28	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2 Ep	3	4	5	6	7	8	9 Bap

If Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 6
(the traditional date; twelve days after Christmas, no matter which weekday it is)

Year	1Adv	4Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
2005-06 B 2011-12 B	11/27	12/18	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6 Ep	7	8 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
2005-06 B 2011-12 B	11/27	12/25	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6 Ep	7	8 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
2006-07 C (leap)	12/3	12/24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31 HF	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6 Ep	7 Bap	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
2007-08 A 2012-13 C	12/2	12/23	.	25	26	27	28	29	30 HF	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5	6 Ep	7	8	9	10	11	12	13 Bap
(leap) 2013-14 A	12/1	12/22	.	.	25	26	27	28	29 HF	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4	5 2Xm	6 Ep	7	8	9	10	11	12 Bap
2008-09 B 2014-15 B	11/30	12/21	.	.	.	25	26	27	28 HF	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3	4 2Xm	5	6 Ep	7	8	9	10	11 Bap
2009-10 C 2015-16 C	11/29	12/20	.	.	.	.	25	26	27 HF	28	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2	3 2Xm	4	5	6 Ep	7	8	9	10 Bap
2010-11 A	11/28	12/19	.	.	.	.	.	25	26 HF	27	28	29	30	31	1/1 MM	2 2Xm	3	4	5	6 Ep	7	8	9 Bap

Notes:

1Adv - First Sunday of Advent (there are four full weeks of Advent only if Christmas is on a Sunday; otherwise, the fourth week of Advent is shorter)
4Sun - Fourth Sunday of Advent (always on the Sunday before Christmas; in 2005, it was Dec. 18, a full week before Christmas)
25 - Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, a.k.a. Christmas Day (Gospel Reading from John 1:1-18, or shorter form 1:1-5, 9-14; but only for "Mass during the Day", not for Vigil Mass, Mass at Midnight, or Mass at Dawn)
26 - Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (proper readings)
27 - Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (first reading 1 John 1:1-4; Gospel reading John 20:2-8)
28 - Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (first reading 1 John 1:5–2:2)
HF - Feast of the Holy Family (Sunday within the Octave of Christmas; or Dec. 30 if Christmas and New Year are on Sunday; optional second reading 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 in Year C only)
MM - Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (always New Year's Day, the Octave Day of Christmas; takes precedence over the Feast of the Holy Family)
2Xm - Second Sunday after Christmas (only celebrated if Jan. 6 is Epiphany and is between Mon and Thurs; Gospel Reading John 1:1-18, or shorter form 1:1-5, 9-14)
Ep - Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (traditionally Jan. 6; but in many dioceses, it is now transferred to the first Sunday after New Year's Day)
Bap - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Sunday after January 6; or the following Monday, if Epiphany is on Sunday Jan. 7 or 8; optional second reading 1 John 5:1-9 in Year B only)
Weekdays between Dec. 27 and Jan. 12 are scheduled to have up to 15 readings covering all of 1 John, but one day is always supplanted by the Feast of the Holy Family, and other readings may be omitted, depending on when the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated and on the total length of the Christmas Season.

Additional Resources:

Overview of the Season of Advent
Overview of the Liturgical Calendars (from 1969 to 2050)
Readings for the Major Feasts of the Christmas Season
Readings for the Weekdays of the Christmas Season
The Birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke
Return to the Main Lectionary Page

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