Seeking the Light of Christ through the Advent Wreath
by
Sharon van der Sloot
It’s dark at this time of year, isn’t it? In the dark of night, we can’t see a thing and perhaps that makes us feel a little bit uncomfortable. We hear noises, and we wonder what’s going on, but we can’t use our eyes to reassure ourselves that everything is okay. In the absence of light, we can’t see anything at all. Darkness limits us; it limits where we can go and what we can do. We can still walk, but we may trip and fall; we can eat, but we’re probably going to make a bit of a mess.
Darkness. That’s how things were at the very beginning of time. The first words of Genesis tell us that … “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” There was nothing, no sun, no moon, no earth, nothing – except for God. But darkness doesn’t limit God. “The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.”
In the early days of history, people suffered through the long, dark winter nights. They waited anxiously for the coming of the warm, sunlit days of spring, and they would try to bring some cheer into their lives by celebrating with Festivals of Light. The pre-Christian Germanic people used wreaths with lit candles as a sign of hope that spring would soon come again. In
Scandinavia , lighted candles were placed around a wheel and prayers were offered to the god of light to turn “the wheel of the earth” back toward the sun so that the days would be lengthened and warmth would again be restored.
But long winter nights are only one kind of darkness. There is another kind of darkness - spiritual darkness, the darkness of Adam and Eve when they committed that first sin in the Garden of Eden and hid themselves from God. They knew that they couldn’t be with Him any more; they had fallen into spiritual darkness, and the tragedy of that reality far outweighed the dark of any winter night.
And so the long wait for the Messiah began. Our hope was still in the God who loved us so much that He promised to send the Messiah, the Savior who would redeem us from our sins and restore our sacred relationship with God. Isaiah prophesied, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined … For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” That first promise was given to the Jewish people and like Adam and Eve, they knew that they were unworthy. So they set about to prepare themselves for the “Advent” (which means “coming”) of the Messiah, with repentance, prayer, and sacrifice. The prophet, John the Baptist, wore camel hair clothes and lived in the desert on a diet of grasshoppers and wild honey. He preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and many people responded to his message and were baptized by him in the
Jordan River , confessing their sins.
And as promised, the Messiah did come, but not in the manner that they had expected. You can imagine people thinking, “The Messiah, our King has arrived! Those on the honored guest list - head for the Bethlehem Inn! I’m sure that you’ll find him in the Crystal Ballroom. There’s sure to be champagne, maybe some of those fancy little hors d’oeuvres…” But the news that the angels brought to the shepherds was just a bit different: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people [everyone’s invited!]; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” A baby? A manger? In the barn? Whose idea was that anyway? Yes, Christ first came to us 2000 years ago as a tiny babe in
Bethlehem , and we remember that event with great joy each year as we celebrate his birth at Christmas.
I think that maybe our ancestors were on to something when they began to prepare for Christ’s coming through repentance, prayer, and sacrifice. We, too, need to prepare, we need to be ready and one of the most beautiful traditions that we practice in order to help prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ is that of the Advent Wreath. Its origins spring from those first pagan Festivals of Light, which were adopted by Christians and transformed into a celebration of Jesus’ victory over spiritual darkness. It was Jesus himself who told us: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The Advent wreath represents for us that long period of time when people lived in spiritual darkness, waiting for Christ’s coming, the Light of the world. The shape of the Advent wreath, which is circular, is a symbol of eternity: the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life found in Christ. The evergreen boughs that we use to decorate the wreath are a symbol of life, a reminder to us that God is unchangeable and that He comes to us with new life. We sometimes use different types of evergreens as we decorate our wreaths, and each one has a different traditional meaning. The laurel signifies victory over persecution and suffering; pine, holly, and yew are symbols of immortality; cedar boughs represent strength and healing. The holly that we sometimes see in wreaths has a special Christian symbolism all of its own: the prickly leaves remind us of the crown of thorns and the berries remind us of the drops of blood that fell from Christ’s forehead during his Passion and death. Any pine cones, nuts, or seedpods used to decorate the wreath also symbolize life and resurrection.
There are four candles: three purple candles and one pink or rose candle. A tradition is that each of the four weeks of Advent, which are represented by each of these four candles, symbolize each of the thousand years that passed between the creation of Adam and Eve and the Birth of the Savior. The color of the candles is significant: purple is the color of penance and humility and it helps us to remember that Advent is a penitential season just like Lent; the two seasons are connected. We are called to fast, to pray, and to perform good works to prepare ourselves for the great Feast of Christmas. When we see the purple of the candles, we are reminded that Christ came into the world in order to sacrifice himself on the cross for our sins, and it is also a reminder that we can’t separate his Incarnation and his birth of the Virgin Mary in a manger at Bethlehem from his redemptive death on
Calvary . He was, after all, born for a reason. The purple color symbolizes waiting, expectation, and preparation.
The color of the rose candle symbolizes joy. The pink color is made by mixing purple with white, and it’s almost as if the joy that we will celebrate at Christmas (symbolized by white) can’t contain itself. We are so full of excitement at the nearness of the arrival of Christ that the white starts to overflow and mingle with the purple.
The Blessing of the Advent Wreath
The Ceremony of the Advent Wreath is a simple one. It starts with the blessing of the wreath, at the evening meal on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, or even on the First Sunday of Advent. The blessing may be celebrated at home as part of your family prayer or at your evening meal and the wreath is usually blessed by a parent or by another member of the family.
The blessing ceremony begins with the sign of the cross, and the one who is going to bless the wreath says, “Our help is in the name of the Lord,” and we reply, “Who made heaven and earth.” Then we read a short passage of Scripture, such as the following passage taken from the book of Isaiah:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever.”
Then we bless the wreath with these words: “Lord God, your Church joyfully awaits the coming of its Savior, who enlightens our hearts and dispels the darkness of ignorance and sin. Pour forth your blessings upon us as we light the candles of this wreath; may their light reflect the splendor of Christ, who is Lord, for ever and ever.”
We respond, “Amen.”
The First Advent Candle (the purple candle opposite the rose candle)
Traditionally when the Advent Wreath is used at home, the opening antiphon from the Sunday Mass for that week is recited when the candles are lit. The prayer for the first week is taken from Psalm 25:1-3. “To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.”
The lighting of the candles can be preceded or followed by an Advent hymn or a Scripture reading. Many families choose to light the Advent Wreath as part of their evening meal. It’s not so important if it’s at supper time or at prayer time; what is important is to find a time when all, or most of you, can be together as a family.
This first candle traditionally represents “Hope” or “Expectation”. Hope is one of the most beautiful of the theological virtues. After all, without hope, we would have no reason to live. Without hope, we would be in darkness all of the time. We remember the anticipation with which the Jewish people waited for the Messiah, how they didn’t lose hope even when they were in exile in or in
Babylonia . Despite power hungry kings, self-centered prophets, and half-hearted religious leaders, they continued to long for God and implored him to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God’s people.
What do you think hope looks like today? What does hope look like to your children? Maybe hope, to them, is the heavenly smell of Christmas cookies wafting through the house. “I just know she’ll give me a cookie, maybe even two?” Or maybe it’s believing that their name is still on Santa’s list, even if he did check it twice?
Hope. It’s the expectation of success, the motor that fuels our courage as we face the challenges of our lives. When I think of hope, I think of the Vietnamese bishop, later ordained a cardinal, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan. On April 23, 1975, Pope Paul VI named him coadjutor archbishop of
Saigon . The coadjutor is the one who helps the archbishop and would have the right to succeed him if anything were to happen to him. But when the Communists arrived in Saigon a few short weeks later, they told him that his nomination as coadjutor was a conspiracy of the and the imperialists to organize a resistance to the Communist regime. It was just a matter of time; about three months later, on the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was arrested. It was to be the start of a long thirteen year ordeal, nine years of it spent in solitary confinement. During that time he only saw two guards each day, endured unspeakable mental torture, absolute emptiness, had no work to do; he spent his days walking back and forth in his cramped cell from morning to night so that he wouldn’t become crippled by arthritis. It brought him to the brink of insanity, but it never caused him to lose hope. What was his secret?
When he was arrested, he had had to leave immediately without taking anything with him. But the next day he was allowed to request in writing the things that he needed most: he asked for clothes, toothpaste, and then made one special request for a bit of medicine for his “bad stomach”. What he was really asking for was a little bottle of wine for Mass, which they labeled “stomach medicine,” as well as some hosts sealed in a flashlight to protect them from the humidity. Each day, with three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of his hand, he celebrated his
Mass. That was the source of his hope. In his book, Road of Hope, he wrote: “As manna nourished the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land, so the Eucharist nourishes you on your road of hope.” The Eucharist is food for our spirits, food for our souls.
Sometimes we don’t understand why things turn out the way that they do. Bishop Van Thuan really struggled at times as he tried to understand what God was asking of him. Why take him from his people at this critical moment, just when they were in so much need of his guidance and support? And he’s not the only one. Think about Mary for a moment: she sure didn’t ask to get pregnant before she was married. It was no different for Christ. In the eyes of humans, the life of Jesus was a complete failure, an utter disappointment; he was a loser.
But that’s not how God sees things. What God sees is that He was able to send His son into the world to redeem us because Mary said “yes”, even though it wasn’t terribly convenient for her. Bishop Van Thuan’s joy, Mary’s joy, and ours, too, comes not in getting what we want, but in accepting God’s will, even when we don’t understand it. Jesus accomplished the most important act of his life on the cross because he poured out his blood to save the world. It was when Jesus seemed his most vulnerable, his weakest, that the saving mission of his redemption was accomplished.
Sometimes the toughest thing about Christmas is that it may not live up to our expectations of what we had hoped it would be. But that’s how we see it, not how God sees it. God just asks that you give Him your heart at Christmas, pure and open and ready to welcome him. God is with you, even in the moments that He seems to be farthest away. Don’t ever lose hope! And remember to nourish your hope by going to receive Christ in the Eucharist as often as you can.
The Second Advent Candle (purple – two purple candles are now lit)
“People of
Zion , the Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear his majestic voice.” The words of this prayer are taken from Isaiah 30: verses 19 and 30.
The candle of the Second Sunday of Advent represents Peace. Whenever I think of peace, I get this amazing picture in my mind of the faces of my sleeping children when they were small. I’ll always remember going into my kids’ rooms after they had fallen asleep. I would just stand there, looking down at their innocent faces, listening to their quiet breath. Sleeping kids look just like angels, don’t they? They always have these beautiful, serene expressions on their faces, no worry lines, they’re not making ANY noise, and when I looked at them, that’s what I felt – peace. None of the trials of the day mattered in those stolen moments; they were my angels.
Peace. That’s what Christ wants for us. He came into the world to bring us peace, to rescue us from the limitations of the darkness of sin, to give meaning and purpose to our joys, our successes, our sorrows, and our sufferings. Christ never promised us an easy road in life; we gave up that option many years ago in the Garden of Eden. But, he did promise that he wouldn’t leave us alone, that he would be with us, that he would give us all of the graces that we need to meet the challenges that we face in our lives.
I recently read a little story that I thought I would like to share with you tonight. It’s about a little boy who was visiting his grandparents on their farm. They gave him a slingshot to play with out in the woods, and he practiced and practiced, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back, he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just on an impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and dismayed; what had he done?!! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?” So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally just smiled and said, “Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.” She whispered again, “Remember the duck?” So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of doing both his chores and Sally’s, Johnny had finally had enough; he couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
We just can’t be peaceful when we have things nagging at our conscience, yet sometimes we get kind of antsy when we think about going to Confession. It sort of feels like John the Baptist’s camel hair shirt: itchy, uncomfortable, we don’t really want to have to explore the dark corners of our souls. But you need to remember that whatever is in your past, whatever you have done, God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He’s just wondering how long you are going to let the devil make a slave out of you. And the great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. So don’t be afraid to go to Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; that’s where you are going to find true peace.
The Third Advent Candle (pink candle – the pink and two purple candles are lit)
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” Philippians 4:4,5
The Third Sunday of Advent is about Joy, about rejoicing. And it’s exciting! Up until this point, the darkness has been winning out. But by the time three candles are lit, the tide is turning! Christ is getting closer, and that is cause for joy!
The candle that we light on this Sunday is pink or rose in color, and we even have a special name for this day: “Gaudete Sunday”. “Gaudete” is the Latin word for “rejoice” and as you just heard, the first words of the entrance antiphon on this day are just that, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!” It reminds us that the fasting is almost over, and there is a lessening emphasis on penitence as our attention turns more to the celebration of the season.
I remember my father-in-law telling me how much he loved this particular day. He grew up in
Holland , where the penitential aspect of Advent was very strict. Throughout the whole season, you couldn’t go to parties, you couldn’t dance, you couldn’t go out on dates with your sweetheart, and you couldn’t even sit next to them in Church. I think for him, it felt like he couldn’t even BREATHE!!!! But Gaudete Sunday was a whole other deal. On that Sunday, you got to sit beside your girlfriend and talk to each other; sometimes you even got to visit together in the afternoon. There’s nothing like that wonderful feeling that you get when you talk to someone you love, is there?
When we talk to friends and loved ones, we call that “conversation”; when we talk to God, we call that “prayer”. Prayer is nothing other than a dialogue, a simple conversation with the God that you love and who loves you more than you can imagine. In “The Road of Hope”, Bishop van Thuan wrote: “How can you rid yourself of sadness? Pray! And why pray? Because in prayer you meet the Lord, just as Mary Magdalene met him while she searched for his body, or as the two disciples met him on the road to Emmaus, where they soon forgot their grief and distress.” Prayer is an invitation to joy.
I don’t know about you, but I often start Advent with lots of enthusiasm for all of the things that I’m going to get done, all of the fancy decorations that I’m going to put up and all of the creative Christmas treats with which I’m going to surprise my family. You may have noticed that praying a lot wasn’t on that list. And not too surprisingly, reality always hits at some point. What was I thinking? I was already busy before I made all of those plans, and somehow I didn’t think about needing to find time for all of those nice little extras. It’s easy to forget that while those details, those extras are beautiful, they aren’t what Advent is about.
Do you remember the story of Martha and Mary, Jesus’ friends? He stopped by to visit one day and Martha was seriously stressed. She was running around, trying to get everything done, make everyone comfortable, and what’s Mary doing? She’s sitting at Jesus’ feet; she isn’t helping at all! And Martha is not happy. So she goes and complains to Jesus, “Tell her to get off her butt and give me a hand; I’m killing myself here!” But Jesus didn’t see things the way that Martha did. He answered: “Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but really, there is only one important thing. That’s what Mary chose, and it won’t be taken away from her.” Bishop Van Thuan observed, “It was not laziness that made Mary sit quietly at the Lord’s feet. Mary chose the better part: to listen to the Lord and allow his words to permeate her heart and soul and – working in and with her – to effect a change. What could be more active than interior renewal and transformation?” If you really want to experience joy, you need to pray.
The Fourth Advent Candle (purple candle – all four candles are now lit)
“Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Saviour.” Isaiah 45:8
The fourth candle represents “Love”. And we are reminded of the beautiful words of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Can you imagine that? Have you ever really thought of what it would mean to send your son, or perhaps your daughter, somewhere, knowing that they would be tortured and killed to make up for the wrongdoings of people, some of who could care less? What kind of love does this God have for us anyway? It is the love of a father.
Recently, I received an email from a lady who I met this past summer in
Washington D.C. She asked if I would pray for a family that she knew, Doug and Jeanne Martin and their six daughters. Doug worked for the National Security Agency and was a full-time dad to his girls, who ranged in age from 3 to 17; he was also a dedicated husband to his wife, Jeanne. He took his work and his faith seriously. He also loved swimming and he encouraged his daughters to share his passion for the sea. They are a home schooling family and this past September, they headed out to
Ocean City, Maryland to take dvantage of an off-season vacation. On the night of September 14th, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, Doug set off for an evening swim with his three oldest daughters, Emily, Amy, and Mary. It didn’t take them long to reach the sand bar, but the rip current was much stronger in these waters. They were getting very tired and the situation was getting dangerous. They had a lot of training and experience, so they headed back to shore parallel to the current. The oldest daughter, Emily, made it safely to shore, but Doug noticed that the other two girls were having trouble. Turning back, he disregarded his own safety in an attempt to save his daughters. In the end, Mary was towed back by an off-duty lifeguard, but Amy didn’t make it. Doug was barely able to pull her to the relative safety of a Coast Guard boat, but the physical effort had been beyond both of them and extreme exhaustion had set in. Doug collapsed and died almost immediately. Amy fought for 45 minutes before she passed away. They died together, in an embrace of a father’s love for his daughter. That’s what you do when you love.
Most of us are not called to sacrifice our lives for our children; most of our sacrifices are not nearly so dramatic. But we are called to make small sacrifices every day: wiping noses, drying tears, giving up our time, just being there, especially when we are tired and, quite frankly, often when we really don’t feel like it. I think of parents who work long hours so that their children can attend good schools, parents who work so that their children can eat and dress well and still be able to participate in extra-curricular activities, parents who just do whatever needs to be done. That’s love, and it’s not always easy.
Sometimes love stretches us. Sometimes it makes us go outside of our comfort zones. But when we do things with love, God blesses us. Mother Teresa of
Calcutta wrote: “The important thing is not how many actions we perform, but the intensity of love that we put into each action.”
As Christmas approaches, I often feel a sense of relief. I look down that optimistic list of things that I thought that I was going to get done before Christmas and I realize that it is time to exercise a little less hope and get a lot more practical. Handmade Christmas gifts? It’s not gonna happen. Elaborate desserts? Well, how about red and green Jell-O with holiday Rice Krispie Squares on the side? And as I go down that list, gleefully crossing things off as I go, I realize that there is nothing wrong with wanting to do all of those things. But I also remember that Jesus came to us in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes; not in a designer cradle, draped in satin cloths. Jesus is not about image. He requires nothing, he asks for nothing other than our love. And in the end, it’s not the extravagance of our Christmas celebration that is going to touch the heart of Jesus, it is whether we love well.
If we live each moment as if it were the last one of our lives, we will begin to get the idea of what Christ is asking of us. Bishop van Thuan wrote: “Only one moment exists for you in all its beauty and that is the present moment. Live it completely in the love of God.” That’s it. Don’t worry about all of those things that you wish you had gotten done, the cards that are sitting on the dining room table waiting to be written, or the house that smells like a barn. If your home is full of love, you have everything that you need in order to be ready.
The Fifth Candle (white one)
“A child is born for us, a son given to us; dominion is laid on his shoulder, and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor.” Isaiah 9:6
There is one more candle left, one that we light either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. It is the Christ candle, and we place it in the centre of the wreath to remind us that the incarnation of Christ, his birth at
Bethlehem , is the heart of the season, and that his coming is what has given light to the world. It’s what we have been preparing for throughout the entire period of Advent. Hope, peace, joy, and love: make these the heart of your home this Advent. And as you seek Christ, know that he will come to you with that overflowing joy, deep in your hearts, this Christmas morning.
