Advent… on the way to Christmas

The Advent season implies that each Christian should set out on a journey, for all Christian life is dynamic, discovery, construction, and perfecting of life… This entire time is filled with secular signs: lights, music, and above all, much consumerist advertising. Let us focus our gaze on the divine signs that prepare us to welcome Emmanuel—God with us! One of these signs: the Advent wreath.

Advent wreath

It is a wreath made of green branches, a symbol of life and hope, and 4 candles, corresponding to the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week the Word of God is a light that illuminates the life of the Christian and the world. The circular shape signifies perfection and fullness. If we consider the meaning of the crown with which people were crowned in the past, it expresses dignity and royalty: all this we acquire in Christ.

Blessing of the crowns

The CPPS communities of Vila Viçosa invited families to make their Advent wreaths and bring them to the Sunday Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, where they were blessed. Afterwards, families followed the Advent journey at home, following the rhythm of the liturgy.

Prayer for the 1st candle

Lord, You come to meet us, and we light this first candle, like a lamp shining in a dark place, to keep our hearts vigilant while we await Your coming. May our hearts not become heavy. May our eyes not be dazzled by the artificial lights of the approaching Christmas. Illuminate, Lord, our hearts, so that we may contemplate in the Nativity scene the miracle of light in the midst of our darkness, the strength of God in our fragility, the divine greatness in our human smallness. Amen.