My daughter called me to ask, "Are the reading the same in all Catholic churches?".
The Catholic Church daily Mass readings are from a Lectionary and are the same in all Catholic Churches.
The Lectionary is arranged in 2 cycles, one for daily and one for Sunday readings.
The Sunday cycle is arranged in 3 year segments - A, B & C. (Click here for more information on which Gospels are used for each year). The Liturgical Calendar for 2015- (Dec. 2014 through Nov. 2015)- is Year B.
(The weekday cycle is divided between 2 years - Year I and Year II. Year I is read on odd numbered years and Year II on even numbered years. The Gospels are the same for both years.)
The Church's Liturgical Year Calendar starts with the First Sunday of Advent and ends with the Solemnity of Christ the King - on Nov. 22, 2015.
The Liturgical Calendar can be viewed and printed here.
A fun way to teach children about the Liturgical Year and explain to them the different colors of the different "seasons" is to print a calendar and have them fill in the colors. There are many free printables to choose from on Pinterest. One that I think is a good image to print for children is this one.
The Liturgical colors are white, red, green, violet, black and rose. (Sometimes we see gold vestments too.) For more information on the Liturgical Seasons colors click here.
Ordinary Time is green. Advent and Lent are violet. Christmas and Easter are white. These are the main colors. See link above for red, pink and black.
Loyola Press describes how the date for Easter is determined.
Pflaum has the best Liturgical Calendars in my opinion. They are around $11 each 16"x22" (or 25 for around $25 - 11"x16"). A very good visual for teaching all children and youth about the seasons of our Catholic Liturgical Year. It also highlights Holy Days and the reading.
