The Custom of the Advent Wreath

Advent Wreath preparing for Christmas

Most popular of the Advent customs handed down to us is the Advent wreath made of evergreens, bound to a circle of wire.

German in origin--it was taken, so we are told, from the pagan fire wheel--the wreath represents the cycle of thousands of years from Adam to Christ during which the world awaited the coming of a Redeemer. 

It also represents the cycle of years since then that bears four candles, equally spaced, three purple ones to be lighted on the "penitential" Sundays, and a rose-colored one for Gaudete, the joyful Sunday in Advent. Candles may be placed inside or outside the wreath.

Any kind of Christmas wreath such as those hung in windows may be used. It may be set on a kitchen or dining room table, on an end table in the living room, or in a child's bedroom. However, it is most appealing when suspended by four purple ribbons from a light fixture in the ceiling.

When our children were small we bought a large, permanently preserved pine wreath and used it year after year. Now that they are going to school they help to make a new one each Advent. Inexpensive and easy to assemble is the wreath we make from a bunch or two of laurel leaves bound to a circle of wire from coat hangers. The evergreens are secured by fine wire to the circle. Candles and ribbons are added as the wreath is put together. Laurel is practical because it does not shed when suspended over the dining room table. Moreover, laurel is a symbol of victory, and thus reminds us that Christ's coming means victory over sin and death. Loveliest of wreaths and fragrant, too, is one of fresh princess pine. When we use that type, we hang it in the living room and add a single silver star to it each evening in Advent when the candles are lighted for prayers. Stars are cut from metallic paper.

City dwellers may make an attractive wreath of fireproof green paper, while country folks will find a metal barrel hoop ideal as a frame for whatever evergreens are at hand. In our children's classrooms in Corpus Christi School, New York City, Advent greens are sometimes kept fresh in inexpensive plastic rings.

The home ceremony for use of the Advent wreath is simple. It consists of Collects, hymns and prayers proper to the Advent season.

We have put it together as follows. 

On the first Sunday of Advent, our family gathers for the blessing of the wreath by father, who begins:

Father: Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

All answer: Who made heaven and earth.

Father: Let us pray. O God, by whose word all things are sanctified, pour forth Thy blessing upon this wreath, and grant that we who use it may prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ and may receive from Thee abundant graces. Through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

He sprinkles the wreath with holy water. Then Myles, our youngest child, lights the first candle, and the prayer for the first week is said.

Father: Let us pray. Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, O Lord, and come, so that we may escape through Thy protection and be saved by Thy help from the dangers that threaten us because of our sins. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

During the first week one candle is left burning during the evening meal, at prayers or at bedtime.

Two candles are lighted on the second Sunday and allowed to burn as before. The prayer for the week is:

Father: Let us pray. O Lord, stir up our hearts that we may prepare for Thy only begotten Son, that through His coming we may be made worthy to serve Thee with pure souls. Through the same Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

Three candles, including the rose candle, are lighted on Gaudete, the third Sunday, and during that week. The following prayer is said:

Father: Let us pray. We humbly beg Thee, O Lord, to listen to our prayers; and by the grace of Thy coming bring light into our darkened minds. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

All four candles are lighted on the fourth Sunday and allowed to burn as before. The prayer said the fourth week is:

Father: Let us pray. Stir up Thy might, we pray Thee, O Lord, and come; rescue us through Thy great strength so that salvation, which has been hindered by our sins, may be hastened by the grace of Thy gentle mercy. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

At the end of Advent, candles and ribbons are changed to white, evergreens renewed if necessary, and tiny Christmas balls added to decorate the wreath. We hang ours in the entrance hall where it adds a festive note to the house and gives us a chance to explain the wreath to neighbors and tradespeople who have not seen it previously. The wreath, unless it sheds, is kept until Epiphany.

Excerpt taken from FAMILY ADVENT CUSTOMS by Helen McLoughlin

https://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/ADVCUST.TXT

Advent is Here!! Come Lord Jesus!

Sound the trumpets in Zion, 

summon the nations; 

call the people together and tell them the good news: 

Our God and our Saviour 

is coming!

St. Charles Borromeo

The Season of Advent

From a pastoral letter from St. Charles Borromeo, bishop

Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Spirit, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation.  The great season of Advent.  

This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon rejoice at last to see.  This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity.  

We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery.  In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Every year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us.  This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all.  We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again.  When we removed all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.

In her concern for our salvation, our loving mother the Church uses this holy season to teach us through hymns, canticles and other forms of expression, of voice and ritual, used by the Holy Spirit.  She shows us how grateful we should be for so great a blessing, and how to gain its coming of Christ as if he were still to come into this world.  The same lesson is given us for our imitation by the words and example of the holy men of the Old Testament.

Lord, help me welcome You once again 

and make room for You in my daily life, 

that You may make Your home in my heart.

Advent is the beginning of the new liturgical year. 

It is a season of spiritual preparation, 

marked by eager longing for the

coming of the Saviour 

through grace at Christmas, 

and for His second and final coming.

The Transfiguration of the Lord

The Transfiguration

Transfiguration of Our Lord

From a sermon by Anastasius of Sinai, bishop

It is good for us to be here

Upon Mount Tabor, Jesus revealed to his disciples a heavenly mystery.  While living among them he had spoken of the kingdom and of His second coming in glory, but to banish from their heart any possible doubt concerning the kingdom and to confirm their faith in what lay in the future by its prefiguration in the present, He gave them on Mount Tabor a wonderful vision of His glory, a foreshadowing of the kingdom of heaven.  It was as if He said to them: “As time goes by you may be in danger of losing your faith. To save you from this I tell you now that some standing here listening to me will not taste death until they have seen the Son of Man coming in the glory of His Father.”  

Moreover, in order to assure us that Christ could command such power when He wished, the evangelist continues: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and led them up a high mountain where they were alone.  There, before their eyes, He was transfigured.  His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.  Then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah appear, and they were talking to Jesus.

These are the divine wonders we celebrate today (Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6); this is the saving revelation given us upon the mountain; this is the festival of Christ that has drawn us here.  Let us listen, then, to the sacred voice of God so compellingly calling us from on high, from the summit of the mountain, so that with the Lord’s chosen disciples we may penetrate the deep meaning of these holy mysteries, so far beyond our capacity to express.  

Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven, and—I speak boldly—it is for us now to follow Him with all speed, yearning for the heavenly vision that will give us a share in His radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into His own likeness, making us for ever sharers in His Godhead and raising us to heights as yet undreamed of.

Let us run with confidence and joy to enter 

the cloud like Moses and Elijah, 

or like James and John.  

Let us be caught up like Peter 

to behold the divine vision 

and to be transfigured by 

that glorious transfiguration.  

Let us retire from the world, 

stand aloof from the earth, 

rise above the body, 

detach ourselves from creatures 

and turn to the Creator, 

to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: 

Lord, it is good for us to be here.

It is indeed good to be here, as you have said, Peter. It is good to be with Jesus and to remain here for ever.  What greater happiness or higher honor could we have than to be with God, to be made like Him and to live in His light?

Therefore, since each of us possesses God in his heart and is being transformed into His divine image, we also should cry out with joy: It is good for us to be here—here where all things shine with divine radiance, where there is joy and gladness and exultation; where there is nothing in our hearts but peace, serenity and stillness; where God is seen.  

For here, in our hearts, Christ takes up his abode together with the Father, saying as He enters: Today salvation has come to this house.  With Christ, our hearts receive all the wealth of His eternal blessings, and there where they are stored up for us in Him, we see reflected as in a mirror both the firstfruits and the whole of the world to come.

Anastasius of Sinai, bishop

d. around 700 AD

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours

Blessed Virgin Mary sermon by St. Sophronius, bishop

Mary, the Mother of  God

From a sermon by Saint Sophronius, bishop

Through Mary 

the Father’s blessing has shone forth on mankind

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. What joy could surpass this, O Virgin Mother?  What grace can excel that which God has granted to you alone?  What could be imagined more dazzling or more delightful?  Before the miracle we witness in you, all else pales; all else is inferior when compared with the grace you have been given.  All else, even what is most desirable, must take second place and enjoy a lesser importance.

The Lord is with you.  Who would dare challenge you?  You are God’s mother; who would not immediately defer to you and be glad to accord you a greater primacy and honor?  For this reason, when I look upon the privilege you have above all creatures, I extol you with the highest praise: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.  On your account joy has not only graced men, but is also granted to the power of heaven.

Truly, you are blessed among women. For you have changed Eva’s curse into a blessing; and Adam, who hitherto lay under a curse, has been blessed because of you.

Truly, you are blessed among women.  Through you the Father’s blessing has shone forth on mankind, setting them free of their ancient curse.

Truly, you are blessed among women, because through you your forebears have found salvation.  For you were to give birth to the Savior who was to win them salvation.

Truly, you are blessed among women, for without seed you have borne, as your fruit, Him who bestows blessings on the whole world and redeems it from the curse that made it sprout thorns.

Truly, you are blessed among women, because, though a woman by nature, you will become, in reality, God’s mother.  If He whom you are to bear us is truly God made flesh, then rightly do we call you God’s mother.  For you have truly given birth to God.

Enclosed within your womb is God Himself.  He makes His abode in you and comes forth from you like a bridegroom, winning joy for all and bestowing God’s light on all.

You, O Virgin, are like a clear and shining sky, in which God has set his tent.  From you he comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber.  Like a giant running His course, He will run the course of His life which will bring salvation for all who will ever live, and extending from the highest heavens to the end of them, to will fill all things with divine warmth and with life-giving brightness.

Saint Sophronius, bishopc. 560 – March 11, 638

Guardian Angels sent by God

Guardian Angel

Guardian Angels

Feast Day October 2

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

That they might guard you in all your ways

He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. Let them thank the Lord for his mercy; his wonderful works are for the children of men.   Let them give thanks and say among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.  O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him?  And you do incline your heart to him; you show him your care and your concern.  Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and promise him a vision of your countenance.  And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers.

He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. These words should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence; respect for the presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection.  And so the angels are here; they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf.  They are here to protect you and to serve you.  But even if it is God who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.

So let us be devoted and grateful to such great protectors; let us return their love and honor them as much as we can and should.  Yet all our love and honor must go to Him, for it is from Him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and respect.

We should then, my brothers, show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our coheirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father.  We are God’s children although it does not seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and for the present little better than slaves.

Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear?  They who keep us in all our ways cannot be overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray.  They are loyal, prudent, powerful.  Why then are we afraid?  We have only to know to follow them, stay close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God’s heaven.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux Abbot, 1090-1153

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours

Prayer to Defeat the Work of Satan

Christ defeated Satan - BEGONE SATAN!

Prayer to Destroy 

the power of Satan in our World

O Divine Eternal Father, in union with Your Divine Son and the Holy Spirit, and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg You to destroy the power of Your greatest enemy -- the evil spirits.

Cast them into the deepest recesses of hell and chain them there forever!  Take possession of Your Kingdom which You have created and which is rightly Yours.

Heavenly Father, give us the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I repeat this prayer out of pure love for You, with every beat of my heart and with every breath I take.

Amen.

Imprimatur:  March 1973, Richard H. Ackerman, Bishop of Covington

Christ defeated Satan by His Cross

“God governs the world but prayer governs God.”

Ancient Prayer to St. Joseph

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus

Prayer to St. Joseph

O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.  

O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power.  

I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.  O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep I your arms.  

I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.  Press Him in my name and kiss His find head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.  

St. Joseph, patron of dying souls, pray for me. Amen.

Imprimatur: Most Rev. George W. Ahr, Bishopof Trenton

Say for nine days as a novena.

St. Joseph pray for us!

This prayer was said to be founded in the fiftieth year of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  

In the 1500s it was sent by a Pope to Emperor Charles when he was going into battle.

According to oral tradition, whoever reads this prayer or hears it or carries it, will never die a sudden death, nor be drowned, nor will poison take effect on them. They will not fall into the hands of the enemy nor be burned in any fire, nor will they be defeated in battle.