This past Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent. Advent to most people means the time before Christmas where they scramble to find last minute presents, make cookies, and maybe even have a fun calendar with chocolate inside. While those things are all good, there is much more to Advent than meets the eye.

Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus. In the Catholic tradition there are four weeks of Advent, each week representing a different theme. A traditional advent wreath is made with four candles, three purple, and one rose (pink).

Week one has a purple candle (The candle of prophecy) and is a week of hope. We hope for the coming of Christ, as told by the prophets. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (paragraph 1817) The part that sticks out to me is the part where it says “relying not on our own strength”. Hope is something that we have to pray for, but we cannot rely on ourselves for everything. God gives us what we need , and we have hope that he will keep his promises.

Week two is also represented by a purple candle ( The candle of Bethlehem) and is a week of preparation. Mary and Joseph had to go the Bethlehem, to be counted in the census, which lead to Jesus being born in בֵּית לֶחֶם (Bet- lehem), which means house of bread. In addition to preparing our homes and tables, we also need to be preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus. You can think of Advent like Lent (the forty day time before Easter). Both are times of preparation, and much like Lent you can give something up, or fast from something. I think fasting is especially great for advent, because it is about saying “no” in a time where society is especially consumerist. It helps you to focus on what is really important (aka Jesus).

Week three changes things up a bit, with a rose candle, the candle of the shepherds, the theme this week is joy. Joy is something that I have been learning more about in the past two years. At a surface level, joy is being happy, but it goes much deeper than that. One time a friend asked me what the difference between joy and happiness is. After some thought I said that happiness is a surface level feeling such as “I’m happy that I got to eat Chinese food today”, or “My cat cuddled me today so I’m happy”. Joy, I said, is a deeper feeling of happiness, something not swayed by the events of one day, but an under current flowing through all you do. My joy comes from my faith. I know that no matter what happens, at the end of the day I can always rely on God, and he has never let me down.

Week four, the final stretch, is the last purple candle, the candle of the angel, with the theme of love. Love is a great theme for this last week of preparation because love is the reason we have Christmas. God loves us so much that he sends his only son, so that we might all have eternal life (John 3:16 paraphrase). Take time to spend with the people you love! Holidays are a time when families come together, so when you are at your family Christmas talk to that relative you haven't caught up with in awhile, and try not to get annoyed when they ask about your life and what you plan on doing after graduation, because you have no clue (they are asking because they care).

Advent, a time of waiting, my hope for you is that you take time this Advent to prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus. Go ahead and dive deep into what Advent means, this is just a brief reflection, and there are many great ways to prepare for Christmas.