Dear Parishioners:
We begin the Season of Advent (from "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to"), a season encompassing the four weeks leading up to the celebration of Christmas. It is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ's second coming at the end of time and to the anniversary of Our Lord's birth on Christmas.
From the earliest days of the Church, people have been fascinated by Jesus' promise to come back. But the scripture readings during Advent tell us not to waste our time with predictions. Advent is not about speculation. Our Advent readings call us to be alert and ready, not weighted down and distracted by the world's cares. Like Lent, the liturgical color for Advent is purple since both are seasons that prepare us for great feast days. Advent also includes an element of penance in preparing, quieting, and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas.
While the secular world is busy and noisy in the weeks leading up to the birth of our Savior, Advent should be a season of waiting in silence, praying with patience, and full of joyful expectation. Advent has us waiting for Christmas but also nursing the hope of ancient Israel for the arrival of the promised Messiah. He came first as the Holy Infant of Bethlehem and then promised He would come again at the end of time to bring us home.
Our lives today can be filled with tensions, setbacks, frustrations, and weariness. It's incomplete! We await the completion of God's plan when He arrives in glory as the Judge of the living and the dead. All the challenges and adversities of this life are potent reminders that we are in need, we are incomplete, something is missing, and we sense the void. That's what we're waiting for: salvation, rescue, redemption, and fulfillment. And that only comes when Jesus returns.
Many people put up their Christmas trees and lights in early November. My family never put up the Christmas tree and decorations until after Thanksgiving. Also, the Nativity scene had a prominent place in our home, but the crib was empty! The baby Jesus was placed in the crib after Christmas Midnight Mass.
The empty crib is a radiant symbol: that's our world; that's our lives! Empty, awaiting someone. That someone is Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, born on Christmas Day. Advent is a time to recall the cry of the early Christians: "Maranatha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!"
We put up the Advent Wreath in Church but also in our homes. It is made of evergreens, signifying continuous life. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolizes God's eternity, the soul's immortality, and the everlasting life found in Christ.
Altogether, the evergreens wreath depicts our soul's immortality, and the new, everlasting life promised to us through Christ, the eternal Word of the Father. Christ who entered our world, becoming true man who was victorious over sin and death through His passion, death, and resurrection.
The four candles on the wreath represent the four weeks of Advent. Each week represents one thousand years, a total of 4,000 years, from Adam and Eve until the Birth of the Savior. Three candles are purple, and one is rose. The purple candles symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and goods works undertaken at this time.
The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, sometimes called Rose Sunday, because of the color of the vestments. It is the Sunday of rejoicing because we have arrived at the midpoint of Advent when our preparation is now half over, and we are close to the great celebration of Christmas.
The progressive lighting of the candles each week symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord's first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming to judge the living and the dead.
Advent is our time to slow down and prepare, not speed up and shop. It is our time to prepare the room for Christ to come more intimately into our lives, hearts, and homes. It’s Advent; use this sacred time to prepare more room for Christ in your life by praying daily, making a good Sacramental Confession before Christmas, and staying nourished and strengthened at Sunday Mass. “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!