Blessing of an Advent Wreath
All make the Sign of the Cross as the leader says:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Response (R/.) Who made heaven and earth.Then the Scripture, Isaiah 9: (lines 1-2 and 5-6) or Isaiah 63 (lines 16-17 & 19) or Isaiah 64 (lines 2-7) is read.
Reader: The word of the Lord.
R/. Thanks be to God.With hands joined, the leader says:
Lord our God,
we praise you for your Son, Jesus Christ:
he is Emmanuel, the hope of the peoples,
he is the wisdom that teaches and guides us,
he is the Savior of every nation.Lord God,
let your blessing come upon us
as we light the candles of this wreath.
May the wreath and its light
be a sign of Christ’s promise to bring us salvation.
May he come quickly and not delay.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen.The blessing may conclude with a verse from
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”:O come, desire of nations, bind
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB.org)
in one the hearts of humankind;
bid ev’ry sad division cease
and be thyself our Prince of peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.
Prayer for Advent Candle Lighting (catholicyyc.ca)
Week 1 – Hope:
All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, forever and ever. AMEN.
Excerpt from The Life of Saint Joseph
As manifested by Our Lord, Jesus Christ to Maria Cecilia Baij, O.S.B.
Whenever the most holy Mother was praying in Her chamber, Joseph would find himself to be interiorly attracted to it. He would remain outside the door in order not to disturb her, and there at the threshold he would kneel down and make his petitions to God for aid, asking for it in virtue of God’s love for the most holy Virgin, inasmuch as he knew how precious and pleasing she was to God.
When Mary was thus praying or engaged so that she was too occupied to notice him, he would bow to her. He did this in response to an interior urge, and he thought that it must somehow be caused by the holiness which he recognized as being present within her. Actually there was another reason for it, of which he was not aware, for the Divine Word, living and residing within the virginal bosom of Mary, was attracting Joseph’s spirit to veneration and adoration.