During the Advent period, the Catholic Church uses a sign called the Advent wreath, made up of 4 candles lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. These candles represent the four weeks of ‘Advent’, with one candle lit each Sunday and the number of lights corresponding to the week. Three of the candles must be purple and the one used in the third week must be pink.

So now we're in the first week of this coming and the first candle, which is purple, represents hope. It's sometimes called the ‘Prophecy Candle’, in memory of the Prophets, but especially Isaiah the Prophet, who predicted the birth of Christ. It also represents the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. As well as being a time to wait for Christmas, Advent is also a time to truly repent, to change our attitude so that Jesus can play a part in us. It is also a time to experience humility, because God's grace works on the little ones, the poor, the weak, the defenceless, the simple and the humble.