O Come, Emmanuel: The Beauty of Advent

With two purple candles lit on the wreath, and Christmas just a little more than two weeks away, the question arises: just what is Advent all about?

The word Advent derives from the Latin word adventus, which means coming. During the four weeks of Advent, we prepare both for the remembrance of the First Coming of Christ in the stable in Bethlehem and the anticipation of His Second Coming. We commemorate the Hebrews waiting for the birth of the Messiah and wait for Him to come again in glory.

Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas, between November 27th and December 3rd. The first Sunday of Advent is also the beginning of the Liturgical Year. Customarily, the Advent wreath adorns Catholic churches and homes during the season. The wreath is a circle of evergreens, symbolizing continuous life. More specifically, the laurel signifies victory over persecution and suffering; pine, holly, and yew are for immortality; and cedar for strength and healing. The circular shape of the wreath, with no beginning and no end, stands for the eternity of God and immortality of the soul, and everlasting life through Jesus.

Four candles adorn the Advent wreath, three violet and one rose, one for each Sunday. The violet candles, lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays, symbolize the prayer, penance, and sacrifices and good works undertaken in preparation for the Christmas season. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, also known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing. The faithful rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because the preparation is half over and the celebration of Christmas is close. The light of the candles symbolizes Christ, the Light of the world.

As the early Church evolved, so did the celebration of Advent. The earliest record of an observation of Advent was in France as a preparation for baptisms during the Feast of the Epiphany, and was very similar to Lent. The Gelasian Sacramentary, attributed to Pope St. Gelasius I, has the first instructions for Advent liturgies. Pope Gregory VII set the number of Sundays to four.

Scripture for the season of Advent features Old Testament prophecies of the First Coming of Jesus, exhortations for justice, and proclamations of the coming Kingdom by Jesus. We read John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, salvation by faith, and the visitations of the Angel Gabriel to Mary and Mary to Elizabeth. The scripture readings illuminate the preparation for both the First and Second Comings of Jesus.

Pope Benedict said in his homily for the First Sunday of Advent, “Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual events of the day are hints that God is giving us, signs of the attention he has for each one of us. How often does God give us a glimpse of his love!”

He encourages us to step back during this Advent season and reflect on how God can better enter our lives.He reminds us, after all, “Advent is the season of the presence and expectation of the eternal. For this very reason, it is in a particular way a period of joy, an interiorized joy that no suffering can diminish. It is joy in the fact that God made himself a Child. This joy, invisibly present within us, encourages us to journey on with confidence.”

Fr. James Keenan, S.J., also touched on this subject during his homily on the same Sunday. He explained that at the first Christmas Jesus became man to share in our humanity and now we look forward to His coming again when we can share in His divinity. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website, www.usccb.org, offers scripture readings, prayers, devotions, and suggested actions for each day of Advent. The Observer wishes you and your family a blessed Advent and the merriest of Christmases. God Bless you all.

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