Advent Wreath Prayers for Each Week

Advent wreath prayers are simple: light the candles for this week, say the Sunday prayer, and let the flame burn through dinner. That’s the whole custom. The box above shows tonight’s candles and prayer, picked from today’s date, and every week’s prayer is below.

How to pray at the Advent wreath

Gather after dark, usually before or after the evening meal. Light the candles for the week, then:

1. Make the Sign of the Cross.
2. Read the short Scripture verse for the week.
3. Say the week’s prayer (below). One person can read it, or everyone can say it together.
4. Add your own intentions, then an Our Father and a Hail Mary.
5. Let the candles burn while you eat, and blow them out before bed.

It takes about two minutes. Small children can light the candle or read the verse, and most of them will remind you if you forget. If you live alone, pray it exactly the same way. The wreath was never only a family custom; it’s a way of marking the week.

Many families also sing a verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” whose verses come from the O Antiphons.

Prayers for each week

These are the prayers the Church said at Mass on each Sunday of Advent in the traditional Roman Missal (the English is from a 1916 Missal translation). Each verse comes from that Sunday’s readings.

Week 1: Sunday, November 29, 2026

Light the first violet candle.

“Look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.” (Luke 21:28)

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come, that by thy protection we may deserve to be rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins, and to be saved by thy deliverance. Amen.

Week 2: Sunday, December 6, 2026

Light two violet candles.

“Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.” (Matthew 11:10)

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of thine only begotten Son, that through his advent we may be worthy to serve thee with purified minds. Amen.

Week 3: Gaudete Sunday, December 13, 2026

Light two violet candles and the rose candle.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)

Incline thine ear, O Lord, we beseech thee, unto our prayers; and by the grace of thy visitation, enlighten the darkness of our mind. Amen.

Week 4: Sunday, December 20, 2026

Light all four candles.

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” (Luke 3:4)

Stir up, O Lord, we pray thee, thy power, and come with great might to our aid, that by the help of thy grace thy merciful forgiveness may hasten what our sins would impede. Amen.

Notice how often the word “come” appears. Three of the four prayers begin with Excita, “stir up,” and the whole season is one long version of the Bible’s last prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Blessing the Advent wreath

The Church has an official blessing for the wreath in the Book of Blessings (chapter 47). It’s given on the First Sunday of Advent or the evening before. A priest or deacon can bless the wreath at church, and a parent or any family member can lead the shorter home form.

The full text of that rite is copyrighted, so we can’t print it here, but its shape is simple, and you can pray it in these words:

1. Begin: “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” All: “Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 123 (124):8)
2. Read: “The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2)
3. Ask God, in your own words or with the Week 1 prayer, to bless the wreath and everyone who prays around it, so that its light helps you prepare for Christ.
4. Sprinkle it with holy water if you have some, and light the first candle.

Advent wreath candle colors and what they mean

The Book of Blessings describes the wreath as a circle of evergreen with four candles: traditionally three violet and one rose, though four violet or four white candles are also fine. Violet is the color of the season, used for waiting and repentance. The rose candle belongs to the Third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, named for the first word of that day’s Mass in Latin, Gaudete, “rejoice.” It’s the halfway mark, and the priest may wear rose vestments too.

The evergreen circle is easy to read: life that doesn’t die, in a ring with no end. One candle more each week means more light as Christmas gets closer, the opposite of the lengthening nights outside.

You’ll often see the weeks named hope, peace, joy and love, or the candles named the Prophecy, Bethlehem, Shepherds and Angels candles. Both are recent customs, mostly from parish and school programs, and the Church doesn’t assign them. Use them if they help your family talk about the candles. Only the rose candle for Gaudete Sunday comes from the liturgy itself.

Some families add a white candle in the center on Christmas Eve for Christ. That’s also a custom, and a lovely one.

Where the Advent wreath comes from

The wreath as we know it started in 1839 in Hamburg, Germany. Johann Hinrich Wichern, a Lutheran pastor who ran a home for poor boys, got tired of the children asking how many days were left until Christmas. He mounted candles on an old cartwheel, a small one for each weekday and a large one for each Sunday, and lit one more every day. Over time the big Sunday candles were what stayed. German Catholics adopted the wreath in the 1920s, and it reached North America in the 1930s.

Keep Advent going

For the season’s dates and a simple plan for each week, see Advent 2026: Dates and Prayers. From December 17, add one of the seven O Antiphons after the wreath prayer each night. And if you want a prayer for every day from November 30 to Christmas Eve, start the St. Andrew Christmas Novena.

Download the printable Advent wreath prayers (PDF): all four weeks on one page, to keep beside the wreath.