Candle Lighting of the First Sunday of Advent

First Sunday of Advent (Year A, Nov 30, 2025)

Matthew 24:37-44

Come. 

In days to come… 

O come, Emmanuel. 

We will hear this cry of the human heart for God many times throughout the liturgy in these days of Advent. Why still the cry if the actual physical coming of God into our world in the person of Jesus is already accomplished? Perhaps because, among other reasons, Jesus’ coming was to forge a path to the secret recesses of our own hearts, to open our eyes to the deifying light that fills all creation with its spark of the divine. To show us the path on which to walk, the path of love. God is here, we breathe him, we shine with his presence, as does everything he has created, we are nourished with his presence in the ordinary, obscure and laborious days which make up our life. As we light this first Advent Candle, may the spirit of faith carry us to those depths in ourselves to recognize and respond with love to his all-embracing presence. As we walk through this first week of Advent, may each person and all creation call to us to respond to the spark of the divine that fills it. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Through faith, let us respond to God’s spark in all we meet, in all that he has made.

O come, open our eyes to your deifying light.