Advent

Advent opens the Catholic liturgical year. It begins on the First Sunday of Advent, the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on December 24 before Evening Prayer I of Christmas. The season looks in two directions at once. The first weeks lean toward Christ’s coming in glory at the end of time. The last days lean toward his coming in the flesh at Bethlehem.

The vestments are violet, the color of waiting and repentance, not of mourning for its own sake. On the Third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, rose vestments may be worn. The Gloria is omitted on the Sundays of Advent, except when a greater feast intervenes, and it returns at Christmas. The Alleluia remains. Advent is not Lent. Fasting is not required, though many Catholics choose a quieter house, an Advent wreath, and fewer distractions.

The Advent wreath has four candles. One is lit on the first Sunday, then two, then three, then four. Three are violet and one is rose, for Gaudete. The wreath is a devotion, not part of the required liturgy, but it teaches the shape of the season better than a countdown that treats December as already Christmas.

The O Antiphons begin on December 17. They address the Messiah as Wisdom, Lord, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dawn, King of the nations, and Emmanuel. Christmas Time does not start when the shops do. It starts at the Vigil of Christmas.