You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Sprouts. Today is Tuesday, December 4th, 2018. This week on the Catholic Spruz podcast, we are diving into Advent. We're talking about what Advent means, and then we're going to start talking our way through the Jesse tree. But before we do that, we have a couple more things to talk about.

Today, we are going to talk about the Advent wreath. Do you have an Advent wreath set up in your

house or your school or your church? All of those places are great places to have an Advent wreath.

Now, oftentimes we pull these out every year, but we don't necessarily think much about

why we have an Advent wreath or what it means.

So let's do that right now.

So first of all, the first thing to notice about a wreath is that it is round.

There's no place that you can say is the beginning or the end of the wreath.

It just goes on and on.

It's eternal, much like God.

So that's why we think of a circle unending without beginning like God. Also, there are four

candles on the Advent wreath and sometimes there's even a fifth candle in the middle of the

Advent wreath. Do you know what those candles stand for? Well, they stand for each week of Advent. We light another candle

every Sunday. So right now, if you're listening to this on Tuesday, December 4th, then you

should have just one candle lit because we are still in the first week of Advent and we won't light another

candle until Sunday. Now this wreath with four candles is not just a countdown to Christmas.

It is much more beautiful and symbolic than that. Here is what it symbolizes.

When we fall into sin, when we choose not to follow God to turn our back on him, then we live a life

that is very dark. It is full of darkness. And that is what we are symbolizing in our wreath.

At night when we light just that first candle, it's completely dark, but there's a little

light. And then each week, as we move closer to Christmas, and as we move through our Jesse tree and learn more

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