| Sunday | 2026 date | Theme | Also called | Candle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Sunday of Advent | November 29 | Hope | The prophecy candle | Purple or blue |
| Second Sunday of Advent | December 6 | Peace | The Bethlehem candle | Purple or blue |
| Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) | December 13 | Joy | The shepherds' candle | Rose or pink |
| Fourth Sunday of Advent | December 20 | Love | The angel candle | Purple or blue |
| Christmas Eve or Christmas Day | December 24 or 25 | Christ is born | The Christ candle | White, in the center (where used) |
Dates from the USCCB liturgical calendar for 2026. Candle names and colors vary from church to church.
Advent prayers for each week
Each prayer follows that week's theme and ends with a verse to read aloud. If your church names the candles differently, the prayers still fit: hope, peace, joy and love run through every week of Advent.
Week 1, November 29: an Advent prayer for hope
Lord God, You keep Your promises. For centuries Your people waited for the One You promised, and You did not forget them. You sent Jesus, just as You said You would. As Advent begins, we bring You the things we are still waiting for: prayers not yet answered, worries we cannot fix, people we love who are far from You. Give us a hope that does not depend on how this week goes. Teach us to wait the way a watchman waits for morning, sure that it is coming. Come, Lord Jesus, and fill us with hope. Amen.
“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”
Week 2, December 6: an Advent prayer for peace
Prince of Peace, the weeks before Christmas can be anything but peaceful. The lists get longer, the calendar fills up, and old tensions come back to the surface. Quiet us. Slow us down enough to notice You. Where there is conflict in our home, our church or our world, make us peacemakers. Where there is fear, remind us that the angels announced peace on earth on the night You were born. Settle our hearts on what matters most, and let Your peace be louder than the noise. Amen.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Week 3, December 13: an Advent prayer for joy
Lord Jesus, this is the Sunday of joy, and Christmas is close. Thank You that joy is not something we have to manufacture: it comes from You being near. Give us the joy of the shepherds, who hurried to Bethlehem to see You, and the joy of Mary, who sang that God had done great things for her. Where joy feels far away this year, sit with us in the sadness and stay until the light comes. Make us glad in You, and let that gladness spill over onto the people around us. Amen.
“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
Week 4, December 20: an Advent prayer for love
Father, You loved the world so much that You sent Your Son: not to a palace but to a manger, not to people who had earned it but to people who needed it. Thank You for loving us first. In these last days before Christmas, make Your love visible in us: patience with family, generosity to people in need, kindness to the stranger and the tired cashier. Help us love the people who are hard to love. And when Christmas comes, let us receive Jesus not only as a story we know but as Your gift to us. Amen.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”
Advent candle prayers for families
Light the wreath at dinner or before bed. Each Sunday, relight the candles from the weeks before, light the new one, and say its line together. Little ones can repeat each line after you.
- First Sunday, the candle of hope: Jesus, You are the hope God promised. As we light this candle, fill our home with hope. Amen.
- Second Sunday, the candle of peace: Jesus, Prince of Peace, as we light this candle, quiet our hearts and make our home a peaceful place. Amen.
- Third Sunday, the candle of joy: Jesus, the angels brought good news of great joy. As we light this candle, make us glad that You came. Amen.
- Fourth Sunday, the candle of love: Jesus, You came because God loves us. As we light this candle, help us love each other the way You love us. Amen.
- Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the Christ candle: Jesus, Light of the world, You are here. As we light this candle, we welcome You with joy. We are so glad You came. Amen.
No wreath? Any four candles will do, or none at all: the lines work just as well around the table.
Short Advent prayers for each day
One line for each day of the week, to pray in the car, at the sink or before you sleep. Repeat the week until Christmas. For a Bible passage to go with each day, see our Advent reading plan.
- Sunday: Lord Jesus, as this week begins, make room in my heart for You.
- Monday: God of every promise, help me trust that what You have said, You will do.
- Tuesday: Prince of Peace, slow me down today, and quiet the hurry inside me.
- Wednesday: Lord, show me one person who needs kindness this week, and help me give it.
- Thursday: Jesus, You came small and poor; teach me to be content with simple things.
- Friday: Light of the world, shine into the dark places in me and in this world.
- Saturday: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20, KJV). I am waiting for You, and I want to be ready.
A Christmas Eve prayer
Christmas Eve 2026 falls on a Thursday. Whether you are at a candlelight service, around the tree, or wrapping presents at midnight, stop for a minute before the day arrives. You might read the Christmas story in Luke 2:1-20 first; if your hands are full, Faithero can read Luke 2 aloud from your iPhone while everyone listens. For the story and verses for cards, see our Christmas Bible verses.
A Christmas Eve prayer
Lord Jesus, tonight we remember the night You were born. The waiting is over, and the promise has come true. You came as a baby, small enough to be held, so that we would know God is not far away. Thank You for leaving heaven for a manger, and for coming first to shepherds, ordinary and unprepared. Come to us tonight in the same way. Come into our home, our families, our tired hearts, and every place in this world that is still dark. Fill us with the wonder of Christmas, and help us carry it past tomorrow. In Your name we pray, Amen.
“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Why churches name the Advent candles differently
There is no single right way to keep an Advent wreath. Many churches name the four candles hope, peace, joy and love. Others call them the prophecy candle, the Bethlehem candle, the shepherds' candle and the angel candle, after the prophets, the town, the shepherds and the angels of the Christmas story. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, for one, lists both sets of names and notes that customs vary from church to church.
Catholic wreaths usually have three purple candles and one rose. Purple stands for the prayer, penance and preparation of the season, and the rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “Rejoice”, the first word of the Entrance Antiphon at that Sunday's Mass, which comes from Philippians 4:4-5. Some churches use blue candles instead of purple, and some add a white Christ candle in the center to light at Christmas.
Eastern Orthodox Christians prepare for Christmas with a longer season, the forty-day Nativity Fast. In the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, for example, it runs from November 15 to December 24. Whatever your church's custom, the point is the same: the light grows week by week as Christmas draws near.
Frequently asked
What are the four Advent candles?
Most Advent wreaths hold four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent. Many churches name them hope, peace, joy and love; others call them the prophecy, Bethlehem, shepherds' and angel candles. On Catholic wreaths three candles are usually purple and one is rose, lit on the third Sunday (Gaudete Sunday), and some churches use blue in place of purple. A white Christ candle in the center is sometimes added and lit at Christmas.
When does Advent start in 2026?
Advent 2026 starts on Sunday, November 29, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The other Sundays of Advent are December 6, December 13 and December 20, and the season runs through Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24. Because Advent always starts on a Sunday, its length changes from year to year; in 2026 it is 26 days long.
Is Advent in the Bible?
The word and the season are not. "Advent" comes from the Latin adventus, "coming," and churches began keeping the season centuries after the New Testament was written; historians are not sure exactly when. But everything Advent practices is in Scripture: the prophets' promises of a coming King (Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2), the long wait of God's people, and Jesus' call to be ready for His return: "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is" (Mark 13:33, KJV).
Why we practice waiting
Advent can feel strange: we already know how the story ends. Jesus has come. So why practice waiting? Because waiting is still most of the Christian life. Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25, KJV) when Mary and Joseph carried their baby into the temple. We are waiting too: for prayers to be answered, for wrongs to be put right, and for Christ to come again.
Advent teaches us to wait well: not idly and not anxiously, but with our eyes open. Each candle is a small act of trust that the light is coming. If this season finds you in a hard place, the candles are for you too. Light them anyway, one at a time. And if you are facing Christmas after a loss, our prayers for grief include a Christmas prayer for you.
When Advent 2026 begins
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. In 2026 that is Sunday, November 29, and the season runs through Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24: four Sundays and 26 days in all. Catholic and Protestant churches that follow the Western church calendar share these dates. The themes and candle names in the table are common ones; churches vary, as explained further down.