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Eric Stoutz, CUF's director of Catholic Responses, received this question recently from a member. Here's the answer:
According to the Church's calendar, the Christmas season ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and Ordinary Time begins after the celebration of that feast. Thus, in the Proper of Seasons for the Liturgy of the Hours, the instruction after Evening Prayer says that "After the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Ordinary Time begins."
Sunday can be considered as a day linking Christmas and Ordinary time. In fact, the next Sunday is called the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, as it begins the second week in Ordinary Time. It appears, however, that the first liturgical celebration of Ordinary Time is on the Monday following the Baptism of the Lord.
It should be noted that some customs keep Christmas decorations until the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (also called Candlemas). Briefly, Christmas is traditionally twelve days, until the Epiphany. But the Christmas season extends liturgically to the Baptism of the Lord. Taking this further, there is a Christmas spirit that has informed Ordinary Time until the Presentation. This feast marks the end of what is traditionally called the Christmas cycle and the beginning of the Septuagesima (anticipation of Lent). Until 1969 the Christmas season ended at the Feast of the Presentation. The Septuagesima is no longer on the liturgical calendar and one rarely sees or hears of the Christmas cycle.
The following is from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001):
107. In addition to these celebrations recalling the primary meaning of Christmas, there are also other celebrations closely connected with the mystery of the Lord's manifestation: the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents (28 December) whose blood was shed because of hatred for Jesus and because of Herod's rejection of his lordship; the memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus, 13 January; the feast of the Holy Family (Sunday in the octave of Christmas) celebrating the holy family in which Jesus "grew in wisdom and grace before God and men" (Lk 2, 52); the solemnity of the 1st of January which recalls the divine, virginal and salvific motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and, although outside of Christmastide, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (2 February), celebrating the encounter between the Messiah and his people, represented by Simeon and Anna, and the prophecy of Simeon.
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
119. Closely connected with the salvific events of the Epiphany are the mysteries of the Baptism of the Lord and the manifestation of his glory at the marriage feast of Cana.
Christmastide closes with the Baptism of the Lord. Only in recent times has the feast been rehabilitated, and hence has not given rise to any particular displays of popular piety. However, the feast presents an excellent opportunity for the faithful to be reminded of their rebirth as children of God in Baptism. The rite of asperges could be opportunely used at all Masses on this day, and homilies could well concentrate on the symbols associated with Baptism.
The Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord
120. Until 1969, the ancient feast of the presentation of Our Lord, which is of Oriental origin, was known in the West as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, and closed the Christmas season, forty days after the Lord's birth. This feast has for long been associated with many popular devotional exercises. The faithful:
- gladly participate in the processions commemorating the Lord's entry into the Temple in Jerusalem and his encounter with God, whose house he had come to for the first time, and then with Simeon and Anna. Such processions, which in the West had taken the place of licentious pagan events, always had a penitential character, and were later identified with the blessing of candles which were carried in procession in honour of Christ, "the light to enlighten the Gentiles" (Lk 2, 32);
- are sensitive to the actions of the Blessed Virgin in presenting her Son in the Temple, and to her submission to the Law of Moses (Lk 12, 1-8) in the rite of purification; popular piety sees in the rite of purification the humility of Our Lady and hence, 2 February has long been regarded as a feast for those in humble service.
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