Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2021. Readings: Jeremiah 43:14-16; Gospel of St. Luke 21: 25-36. Theme: The Message of the Advent Wreath
Well, here we are at Advent once again, with our traditional Wreath front and center, calling us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. You know, most of our beloved Advent and Christmas customs began centuries ago when the vast majority of people were illiterate. So the stories of the Bible had to be taught in appealing and easy-to-remember ways through things like the Advent Wreath, setting up of Nativity Scenes, singing carols and decorating Christmas trees. But these things have become so common-place for us today that we run the risk of taking them for granted. We can easily lose sight of what they symbolize and why we Catholics have been using them for centuries.
With this in mind, I thought it would be good on this first day of Advent to take a look at the Wreath which we - and Catholic parishes everywhere - set up in our sanctuaries every year. It was originally designed by Christians in Germany centuries ago to pass on the story of our salvation in Christ. The various things that it is composed of were intentionally chosen to teach us about God and how he has reached out to us. The Wreath’s evergreen branches symbolize everlasting life while its circular shape reminds us that God is eternal, without beginning or end. Each candle stands for a particular period in human history and so they are lit week-by-week, visually expressing that God’s intervention into our world was a gradually unfolding process. Even the colors of the candles are meant to deliver a message to us: purple speaks of hope, while pink is the color of rejoicing. And so the Advent Wreath as a whole tells us that we are in a time of hopeful preparation, waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise to bring joy and gladness into our lives. And don’t we all really need to hear that message today!
The first purple candle represents the first phase of human history which began with the Creation of Adam and Eve. It reminds us of how God originally created human beings to live in intimacy with him, but that they chose instead to live for themselves apart from their Creator. It calls to mind the promise God made to them in the Garden of Eden, that he would send a Savior, born of a woman. This Savior, called the Messiah, would undo what they had done by offering God obedience in place of their disobedience; by offering the Father love in place of their decision to choose the selfishness of sin. And so, this first candle invites each one of us to join in the story that began in that Garden of Eden. It tells us that we do not have to be part of the problem of sin that began with Adam and Eve. Instead, we can choose to become part of the solution by opening our hearts and giving our lives to Jesus Christ, the Promised One.
The second purple candle of the Wreath represents the era of history that we call the Old Testament. During that 4,000-year period, God sent prophets to his people Israel who kept the promise of a Messiah alive in the minds and hearts of the people, especially when they were going through terribly difficult times. This candle recalls the prophet Isaiah who spoke of a virgin who would give birth to a son who would be Emmanuel, God-with-us. It calls to mind the words of the prophet Micah who declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And it honors the prophet King David, who foretold that important visitors from afar would travel to see the child and bring him gifts. This candle calls us to lift up our hearts like the Jewish people of old and never forget that no matter how challenging things may seem in our lives, God is a Father who always keeps His promises and that he often delivers even more than we can hope for or imagine.
The third candle clearly stands out as uniquely different because it represents the era of the New Testament, the time when God’s promise of a Messiah comes to fulfillment. Its pink color symbolizes joy and so we call the Third Sunday when we light it, “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” Sunday. During that week the Wreath summons us to think about and learn from the great figures of the Gospel who are models of joyful preparation for Christ: the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist. It reminds us that the Virgin Mary is called the “Cause of our Joy” because she made it possible for the Messiah to enter into this world and become one of us. It teaches us to trust in God’s plan for our lives like St. Joseph, even when this plan can be so very hard to understand. And it calls us to listen to St. John the Baptist who points us to Jesus and he tells us to prepare a way for the Lord in our hearts.
Finally, we come to the fourth candle and return to the color purple. This last candle symbolizes the final era of human history, that is, from the present day until that time when Jesus returns to planet Earth as we heard in today’s Gospel. The Wreath urges us to reflect on the reality that Jesus Christ, who first came to us in humility and obscurity in the little town of Bethlehem, will come again in glory and majesty to bring his mission of salvation to its completion. As we heard in the Gospel, his second coming will be preceded by great trials and struggles for the Christian people. But this fourth candle calls us to be strong in spirit and deepen our personal relationship with Christ so that when he comes he will find us ready and worthy, faithful to the end. It encourages us to look forward to that Glorious Day when good will triumph over evil forever, once and for all. From that time on there will be no more suffering, no more struggles and no more tears among God’s people.
So, as we can hopefully now see, the Advent Wreath is so much more than simply a seasonal decoration for our church sanctuary. As the days of Advent unfold, bringing us to Christmas, it calls us to take a good honest look at ourselves - at who we are on the inside and at how we are living - and to open our hearts to the transforming presence of the Savior, the Messiah, the Promised One, who came to us in history and who wants to come into our hearts today to bring hope, peace, joy and love into the lives of those who trust in him.
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