Nature both adorns and strips the fields and the garden, the woods and the city park, according to the seasons: adding or taking away color and texture, growth and decay, images of birth, death and rebirth. So, too, the Christian community adorns and strips its house according to the seasons of the liturgy’s calendar. We crown the year of grace with images and signs of the paschal mystery, to proclaim the coming fulfillment of the reign of God. This book is a comprehensive, practical guide to decorating the church, to making it fit for worship.

For each season of the liturgical year and for the months of Ordinary Time, this book will help you:

• discover the signs of the season: in nature, in Scripture, in the living tradition of the liturgy
• detect quality and appropriateness in ideas and designs
• decorate the place of the assembly, the altar, ambo and font, shrines and vestibules, and gathering places both indoors and out

Not only will you use this book throughout the year, you will return to it year after year as you decorate the church through the seasons.