Advent: A Three-fold Preparation
- nuscss
- Jun 5, 2020
- 9 min read
As we hustle to get our last-minute Christmas shopping completed, attend various Christmas parties, preparing to fly to another country for a holiday with your family and friends, or just resting in the comforts of your home after CUR, let us not forget what this season is preparing us for. While it may be a busy period for us, December is usually the month for us to take stock of the liturgical year that passed and prepare our hearts to receive Jesus into our lives as we welcome the new year.
Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ, but it isn’t merely just celebrating the birth of Jesus two centuries ago. We are also preparing for the renewal of our faith in our present moment, as well as preparing for His second coming! In fact, the Advent wreath (i.e. the five Advent candles) we see during Mass helps us to ponder in our hearts the gifts the Lord wants us to receive this season. Let us explore what each candle prepares us for, through the reflections shared by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in our community.
1st Sunday of Advent: Prophecy’s Candle - Hope
by Chloe Woo
The candle lit on the first Sunday of Advent symbolizes hope. Interestingly, it is also called the Prophecy’s candle, referring to Isaiah's Emmanuel prophecy, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:10-16). Through this prophecy, God promises us that He will send His Son down to dwell amongst us, that God will be with us.
The above meaning of the candle was indeed beautiful, however, I struggled to grasp this whole idea of hope. It sounded all too fluff for me. What does the Emmanuel prophecy have to do with hope? What is hope? How do I hope during the days when I feel such despair? I felt like I’ve always failed at hope. In times of despair, it felt as if the more I hoped that God will bring better days, the more disappointed I would get because things just wouldn’t get better.
Through prayer, God revealed to me that I had it all wrong. I had misunderstood what it meant to hope. I thought hope meant optimism, to hope for better days ahead when seasons are difficult…but it is not! Hope is so much more than that. Hope is more than a feeling, but hope is trust, trust in the promise of the future, the trust in God’s promise to us – God’s promise that He will send His Son down to be with us. As I gaze upon baby Jesus, suddenly it wasn’t so difficult to trust in God’s promise, for God had already given us Jesus. Through the simplicity of a baby born amongst us, God sends His message to us that He is with us, even in times of despair. Hope is also a relationship with God. Without a relationship with the God who loves us, it will be difficult to trust that God is with us.
In celebrating Christmas this year, let us first begin to have a relationship with God, to choose to trust in God, to trust that He has been here, is here, and will be here for us in the future. For Christmas is not just a season of great happiness, where everything in life seems to be working out for us, but it is a season where we are called to trust in God’s promise to us through His son.
2nd Sunday of Advent: Bethlehem’s Candle - Faith (Purple)
by Matthew Tan
The second Advent candle represents faith and is called the Bethlehem’s Candle to symbolize the journey of Mary and Joseph obeying Caesar’s edict, so as to give birth to baby Jesus in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7). However, I struggled to understand how the Gospel (Matthew 3:1-12) ties in with faith. Despite knowing it was related to having faith in God, it still felt rather abstract to me. It was only until I read Archbishop William Goh’s reflection that I was able to relate to the truths I received from this Gospel.
“In a world of relativism, nothing has permanent value.” When I read this sentence from Archie’s reflection, a wave of emotions hit me hard. During my time in hospital receiving treatment or at home resting, I often find myself being jealous of others in the community enjoying themselves during fellowship or community bonding sessions. Even though I am aware that my medical conditions limit me from participating and have surrendered my jealousy to God in prayer, a part of me sometimes question God. “Why must I suffer and not being able to enjoy the fruits of being in a community? Am I not worthy enough?”
However, Archie’s words enlightened me that I was falling into a downward spiral if I kept comparing myself to others. My perceived reality of others may not be the reality they are experiencing, because the season we are in differs from individual to individual. The only truth that connects our divergent realities together is that we are converging towards Jesus: the Way, the Truth and the Light. For John the Baptist proclaimed, “His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.” Thus, faith is our belief in Jesus that He will pave the way to Him for us, even in the midst of uncertainty and the unknown - a fire that burns within us that does not falter in the darkness or storms, for the light towards God is in us.
Without this personal contact with His love, we may struggle to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ into our hearts this Advent. So, let us build our lives upon His love for us and have faith in Him even when our seasons change, for He had placed His faith in us by blessing us with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, where divinity became man.
Gaudete Sunday: Shepherd’s Candle - Joy (Pink)
by Hannah Yeo
The third Advent candle is the Shepherd’s Candle, representing Joy and it is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, also known as “Gaudete Sunday”! It is one of the only 2 days in the whole year that the Priest wears Pink vestments! This is done to symbolise the great REJOICING amidst the somber and reflective season of Advent. The rose coloured theme reminds us of the hues that paint the sky at the very brink of morning, one that brings so much Hope and Life! As the shepherds journeyed for long days and long nights, can you imagine the amount of Joy they felt when they finally got to see baby Jesus? Likewise, we too are invited to experience this Joy!
What is Joy? Why is it different from Happiness?
Joy has an element of perseverance where even in the midst of great struggles, we can still experience Joy. However, happiness can’t seem to logically exist with struggle. While Happiness can come from many things we sought to possess, Joy can only come from one person: Jesus. Joy is knowing the truth that God’s goodness is permanent even when situations in life and feelings change.
In the gospel for Gaudete Sunday, John asked Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?.” John’s question highlighted his doubt that He had even after serving the Lord and being on mission for Him his whole life. It shows his humanness even as a Holy Man which serves to encourage us! Jesus then responds with “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” I am reminded that although in some seasons of our life our hardships may present us with doubts of God’s hand in our lives, it is precisely in these moments where we are invited to persevere in Faith. Only then would we be able to bear true Joy in our hearts.
Upon further reflection, I have realised that many times in my life I tend to expect Jesus to come and save me in a certain way - a way that I’m comfortable to be saved, a way I’m used to being saved. However, in Matthew 11: 1-3, I see the reality that God doesn’t always act as we expect Him to. People thought that the Messiah would come gloriously and in a royal way, yet the Messiah was born in a manger, in an unglamorous and humble setting. We are challenged to put away our expectations and familiarity of how Jesus will work in our lives, and let the king of kings surprise us with His plan for us.
This Christmas, let us move out of expectations of how this season should pan out, let us be spontaneous with the Lord. Let us be like little children who play in the rain, who embrace such gloomy weather with great Joy!
4th Sunday of Advent: Angel’s Candle - Peace (Purple)
by Abigail Tan
The fourth advent candle is the Angel’s Candle, which represents peace. In the nativity story, the angels were messengers of God, bringing news of the fulfillment of scripture with the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah.
Each time the angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, he first says “Do not be afraid.” It is as if the angel recognises our instinct to fear the unknown, the socially unacceptable, the seemingly impossible. He does not ask “Why are you afraid?”. However, the angel also invites each character to move out of fear so that they could respond to God’s mission for them. We thus see that peace is not the absence of fear. Rather, it is the choice to choose the unity of peace over the fragmentation of fear (The Virtues Project, Peacefulness).
This choice is revealed in the difference between Zechariah and Mary’s response. In conveying God’s plan, the angel told of two moments of transcendence: the miracle of barren Elizabeth getting pregnant and of the virgin Mary bearing a child. Zechariah responded with skepticism, doubtfully asking for proof in his question “How shall I know this?”. In contrast, Mary responded with trust. Though she did not understand how it was possible for her to bear a child, her 'how' in her question “How can this be?” was one of humility and reverence. Peace comes with the choice to lift our eyes from ourselves and to desire to see as God sees, thus uniting our vision with that of God’s.
As the year draws to a close, I am faced with a daunting semester ahead and impending graduation. I find myself worrying incessantly about my future, putting me in a state of anxiety that robs me of my present peace. As I reflect on the nativity, I realise that just as the angel calls out to Mary, Joseph and Zechariah, so too does God call me by name and remind me not to be afraid. This call is not mere suggestion, but a gentle directive to lift my gaze upwards and away from the navel of my troubles, toward the beautiful baby in the christmas crèche whom we proclaim the Prince of Peace. The angel reminds us to find our peace in Him, for “Nothing will be impossible for God”.
The angel appears to one more set of characters in the nativity story: the shepherds. In their multitude as heavenly host, the angels proclaimed the words of our Gloria: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will”. They tell of the greatest gift of Christmas: the Prince of Peace himself who unites his divinity with our humanity. It is God who first unites himself with us, and we are called to respond in unity. This Christmas, let us invite Jesus himself to reign in our hearts, through us establishing his lasting peace on earth.
Christmas Day: Christ’s Candle - Purity (White)
by Matthew Tan
On Christmas Day, the final Advent candle is lit by the celebrant during Mass to signify the birth of Jesus Christ. The colour white symbolises the purity of His Son who comes from above, fully divine and fully human. Despite being free from sin, our Father sent His Son into our world to take the fall for humanity, so as to give us new life in Christ.
It is through this celebration on the finale of Advent that we receive the gifts we were preparing for over the past 4 weeks. No matter what season of life you may be in at the moment, the Lord will meet you where you are at. As we hope to move forward from the mountain we are struggling to climb on our own, may we have faith in our God to give us the necessary strength and grace to carry us across in spite of our fear of the unknown. For He will give us unexplainable joy upon overcoming the mountain we had trouble climbing over with His love and obtain everlasting peace that only He can give in knowing that He is there for us wherever we may be. However, this is only possible if we surrender our lives purely to Jesus and allow Him to administer His never-ending grace upon us to do His work.
As we enter into 2020, will you be willing to surrender your lives wholeheartedly to Jesus this Christmas?
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