Advent and the Advent Wreath - Week # 1

Today, November 30, is the first day of Advent and the first day of the Church’s new liturgical year. Advent is a Season of Anticipation, Repentance and Preparation for the Birth of Jesus at Christmas. It begins 4 Sundays before Christmas, so its length in days can vary from year to year, as long as 28 days and as short as 21 days depending upon the calendar, but it always includes 4 Sundays.

The color purple marks the Season of Advent—a color traditionally associated with fasting and repentance, similar to Lent, when we anticipate the birth of Christ. The church is sparsely decorated during this four-week period for the same reason.

The Advent Wreath has a long Catholic tradition of German origin. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent. One belief is that each week represents one thousand years, to represent the estimated 4,000 years from Adam and Eve until the Birth of the Savior.

The three purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, preparation, sacrifices and goods works undertaken during Advent. The rose (pink) candle is lit on the third Sunday, called Gaudete Sunday, it is the Sunday of rejoicing, because the faithful have arrived at the midpoint of Advent, when their preparation is now half over and we are close to Christmas. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming at the end of time.

Keeping up on your Catholic terms

Advent—derived from the Latin word “Adventus” meaning “coming”.

Gaudete—a Latin word meaning “Rejoice Ye”

Christ the King can lead to a New Year of Encounters!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This is the last Sunday in the current Liturgical Year. Next week, we begin the Season of Advent. Rather than looking at Advent as a stand alone series of Sundays leading up to Christmas Season, this year what if we tried to focus collectively on these days as an entire season until we return to “Ordinary Time”.

Why this theme? Well, it’s interesting that of all 4 Gospels, John does not start with the birth of Jesus but starts his Gospel with, “In the beginning was the Word…” emphasizing that “The Word” was with God from the very beginning and “…the Word was God”. This is our first glimpse into the mystery of the Trinity. For all time, Jesus co-existed with the Father and was God. John then goes on to tell his readers of John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of the Lord and concludes with the verse, “And the Word was made Flesh and made his dwelling among us…”.

The apostle John felt it necessary to establish that Jesus was God and came to earth to dwell among us. During these seasons and feasts, we anticipate and prepare for the coming of Jesus, honor Mary as the virgin mother of Jesus, celebrate the humanness of Jesus’ birth, His place as a member of the Holy Family, the significance of Mary in Salvation History and the recognition by the magi that this child, unlike anyone before or after Him, was special.

While the major focus is on the preparation during the 4 weeks of Advent, there are many opportunities to prepare for the coming of Jesus and to continue enhancing our relationship with Him in these days:

• Consider joining one of our Heart to Home or Small Groups - even for just the Season of Advent - be bold enough to “step-out” of your comfort zone, participate, and make this season a turning point on your Spiritual Journey.

• Read the Gospel prior to the Sundays in Advent and reflect on them.

• Attend Mass at least one other day besides Sunday. 

• Take Advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

As we get ready for our "New Year" - may this Season of Advent bring us toward new encounters with Christ.

A Popular Question About the Our Father

During Mass, why do we pause at the end of the Lord’s Prayer for the priest to add his part, and then finish? There are actually 3 different things being said (prayed) at this time.

First is the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Next, what the priest says is called the embolism. (GREEK, meaning ‘insertion’) It simply expands upon the last words of the ‘Our Father; it is a prayer that continues the final sentiment of what we all just prayed, to deliver us from all manners of evil.

Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Finally, what comes next is called the Doxology (a ‘prayer of praise’). For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever.

These words were never originally part of the Lord’s Prayer. Jewish custom included doxologies in communal prayer, particularly at the end, and the doxology is seen as an addition used in early communal worship. The earliest christian writing that includes the doxology is the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles). Didache [Didah- kay] simply means ‘teaching.’ The “Our Father” in the Didache had the doxology tagged onto the end without the words “the kingdom,” which were added later. The tradition of the doxology was carried into the Liturgy, and became so closely associated with the Lord’s Prayer that it is now often considered to be part of the prayer itself.