The word advent comes from the Latin word "adventus," which means coming. Advent covers four weeks before Christmas day. This is not something for the past alone. We know and believe that today, Jesus continues to come to us and make His kingdom grow.
Advent then is a time to prepare... not on the gifts that we are excited to give and to receive but more on the preparation of one's heart for the coming of our Savior. It is, therefore, necessary that we keep our hearts clean and free from stains of sins we commit.
To make Advent season meaningful, we offer prayers and intentions encouraging us to prepare our hearts and leave room for Savior to be born in our hearts through the presence of the Advent wreath.
This Advent wreath is circular and is usually wrapped with green leaves to symbolize the eternity of God and the hope for eternal life. There are also four candles which symbolize the four weeks preparation and each candle is lighted every week. The three candles are colored violet to symbolize prayer, repentance, and sacrifice while the fourth candle is colored pink to symbolize joy for the nearness of His coming.
Advent, therefore, gives us the chance to re-direct our lives and change for the better, starting from "within." It is now up to us to make the most out of this opportunity.
Jesus is our Savior, the promised Messiah. He is to be born in our hearts. We must appreciate God's love and goodness as we spend longer time to be with the Lord especially this season of Advent.
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
Make straight His paths:
All humankind shall see the
salvation of God."
- Luke 3:4,6
Advent : A Time to Prepare by Lady Shaira 'Shai' M. Abuan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.shaimemylifeandyou.blogspot.com.
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