This is the Advent I’m really going to do it. I promise. I’m really going to pray with the Advent wreath all four weeks.
No, really. I mean it.
I know the Advent wreath should be more than a nice decoration to have around the house during the holidays, and I know that I will get more out of the Advent season and my preparation for Christmas if I put more into it.
Have you had this kind of conversation with yourself?
Let’s do it this year. Let’s make time to light the candles on the Advent wreath every Sunday starting Nov. 30, and let’s use this simple ceremony that has been a part of Catholic life since the 16th century.
This is something each of us can do as individuals, as a family or as a group with others we might invite to join us.
Clip the Advent wreath ritual out of The Catholic Spirit each week or
pull it off of www.TheCatholicSpirit.com and make all the copies you
need.
It doesn’t have to take long to make our prayer around the Advent
wreath a meaningful part of each week. With the right priorities, all
of us can find 10 or 15 minutes.
Find a time convenient for yourself and anyone who might be joining you.
It’s a brief ritual that will be in this newspaper and on the Web site
each week during Advent. Use the whole thing or the parts that make
sense for you and those praying with you.
Read the readings aloud or silently.
If you are with others, take turns leading, and take turns with each of the various parts of the ritual.
And don’t rush through the prayers of petition at the end. Take your time with each, and reflect on what you’re praying for.
The season of Advent opens the new church calendar, and what better way
to start the new church year than by joining with others across the
globe in preparing our hearts for the miracle of Christmas.
Week 1 prayer
The following Advent wreath prayer is intended to help busy households
make Advent a prayerful time during the rush of Christmas preparations.
The language is fairly simple and can be used for personal prayer and
reflection or by groups of adults or adults with children. Options are
noted to allow for participation by a variety of members of the
household.
Leader: Today begins a special time of year for us. This week we begin
the season of Advent, that period of waiting before Christmas. In order
to help each of us prepare our own hearts for the birth of Christ, we
want to take a few moments each week to pray together.
• Light the first candle on the Advent wreath. (Choose a different person for this task each week.)
• Read aloud Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2b-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37. (A different person might read each passage.)
Leader: Did you ever wonder why God didn’t make it easier for us to be
good? The Bible passages that the church has chosen for this first
Sunday of Advent point out two things: that we aren’t perfect, and that
we could be — and we’d better be! — better people.
The prophet Isaiah begs God for help. The evangelist Paul offers up a
thank-you to God for all the gifts we have. And Mark’s Gospel reminds
us that the time to start living the right way is right now — this
Advent — today.
Closing prayer: (Leader may read all, or others in the household may each read a segment.)
• Dear God, help us to accept that we are the clay and that you are the
potter. Throughout this first week of Advent, help us remember that we
are your people and that you are our God. Help us get our priorities
right and put the most important things first: loving God and loving
our neighbor.
• Holy Spirit, guide the choices we make throughout this week so that
we choose to do what honors our creator and what shows our love of
others.
• Father in heaven, we offer thanks to you for the many gifts and
talents you have given to all the people on earth, to our family and
friends, to the neighbors we know and the neighbors we have yet to
befriend.
• Lord Jesus, we wait in joyful hope for you. Come into our hearts so
that when the time comes we will be prepared to join you in everlasting
joy.
Come Lord Jesus,we need you more and more in the world and in our country,where people who fail to understand us your children have attacked us and destroyed the works of our hands and killed your chil;dren in our country and especially in Orissa where these same people are threatening to continue their nasty activities targeted against us on your birthday.
This is the Advent I’m really going to do it. I promise. I’m really going to pray with the Advent wreath all four weeks.
Show/hide comment form