Advent at Benet Hill
| Meaning of Advent |  |
| Liturgy Schedule | |
| Symbols of Advent | |
| Benet Hill Advent experience | |
Holy Darkness-excerpt
by Sister Ana Cloughly
….guests glimpse the entrance to Our Lady of Peace Chapel where a mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an image of the pregnant Blessed Mother appearing as a woman indigenous to the Americas symbolizes our continual anticipation of the coming Christ. Around the corner and through a small threshold is Spirit of Wisdom Oratory. Here is where we gather several times a day to hear God’s word, to give praise and to offer our prayer for the world.
Entering the oratory, a small round room, appointed in traditional monastic fashion, we are seated to begin our celebration. The ambo cloth is a deep purple indicating the change of season. Advent is the time when the Church begins a new liturgical year and marks the beginning of our Advent/Christmas Season. Our opening ritual expresses our gratitude as we end this year of hearing the Gospel of Luke and begin to listen to Gospel of Matthew. Vespers begin, a hymn, Psalmody, the gospel, Magnificat, prayer for the world and finally we sing Holy Darkness.
The Meaning of Advent
by Sister Rose Ann Barmann, OSB
The sooner we realize that Advent has little to do with Christmas, and is in no way a make-believe preparation for the birth of Christ, the more quickly we will see the intense practicality of Advent. The four weeks of this season invite us to open up ourselves more fully to Christ, who is always coming to us. Christ comes in hundreds of ways in the present, and will come in judgment at the end of time.
Advent reminds us that the prayer of “your kingdom come” in the Our Father will be answered only if we perform the penance necessary to clear away the barriers to that coming. “Your kingdom come” means that we want Jesus to come into us in the power of the Eucharist, in Christ’s teachings on social justice, in the challenges of scripture, and in the renewal mapped out in Vatican II. We want the Lord’s love and truth and mercy to visibly overpower the evil in our world.
Advent arouses a holy impatience in us for such comings. The holy season encourages us to fill the valleys and to build the bridges required if he is to come quickly. These advent days prompt us enthusiastic hope that the Christ who once came in history will continue to come now in grace-filled mystery, in preparation for his majestic coming in the last days.
More about the Symbols and meaning of Advent and the Liturgical Year Calendar.
Courtesy of Liturgical Training Publications
Symbols of Advent: The Advent Wreath
The advent wreath is composed of a circle with evergreen and four candles that symbolize the four weeks of Advent. One candle is lit for each week with the weekly prayer for advent (usually lit at the mealtime.) Each element in the wreath has a special meaning drawing us more fully into the experience of Advent. 
Circle: the coming of the Lord, in the past-in the flesh, in the present-in grace, in the future-in glory.
Candles: the Light “shines in the darkness” coming progressively as each week another candle is lit.
Evergreens: our hope for salvation, since green is the Church’s color for hope
Violet candles and ribbons: penance, a clearing away the mountains and filling in the valleys of our lives.
Rose candle: our joy that the Lord is always near.
Additional Meanings
courtesy of Michael Segers.
The first purple candle is the prophets candle, and it symbolizes hope. The second purple candle is the Bethlehem candle. It represents Christ's manger and symbolizes love. The third candle is pink and it is called the shepherd's candle. The shepherd's candle symbolizes joy.
The fourth candle is purple and is called the Angel's candle. It symbolizes peace. The final candle is white and it is lit on Christmas Eve. The white candle symbolizes Christ who has come into the world to save it from its sins.
The traditional colors of Advent are purple, pink, and white. Each of these colors are represented in the candles of the Advent wreath. Purple is a color associated with repentance as a reminder to prepare internally the coming holiday.
It is also associated with royalty, in anticipation of the birth of the coming king. Pink is used during the third Sunday of advent and it represents joy. It marks a shift in the season away from repentance towards rejoicing. White is associated with purity. The white candle in the center of the advent wreath represents the sinlessness of Jesus.
Since the sixth century, Advent has marked the beginning of the church year, noting as it does the historical first advent or coming of Christ as well as his second coming in judgment. Advent is sometimes called the "winter Lent," coming before Christmas, just as Lent, in the spring, comes before Christmas. Before the festival (Christmas or Easter), there must be a somber time of preparation. Traditionally, during the time of Advent, festivities were forbidden, and the authorities encouraged fasting.
Advent often attracts popular, folkloric customs. In our time, popular Advent customs include the Advent wreath, with candles that are lit each Sunday in Advent, and the Advent calendar, which parents share with children to help them count down the time until Christmas.
Many churches today share a common lectionary, or a three-year cycle of readings from the Bible. The readings for Advent emphasize the expectation of the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament.