Adventus Domini ~ the Coming of the Lord
A beautiful Catholic devotion is the Advent wreath with three violet candles to represent penance and one pink to represent joy. The wreath itself as a circle that goes around continuously, hard to find a beginning and an end, reminds us of eternity and that God is the Alpha and Omega.
From the Catholic Catechism, "Eternity has no end. We can never have a proper conception of its duration, because we have nothing similar to eternity. Millions of ages are as nothing compared to eternity. If a bird were to carry away from the ocean one drop of water every thousand years, a time will come when it will have carried away the whole ocean. But that time is less than the shortest moment, compared to eternity."
The Advent candles die down as each week passes telling us that as Christmas approaches, eternity approaches also. An old maxim says, he who lives well shall die well. The Advent season reminds us to prepare for Christ's coming at Christmas, our own death or His second coming, and by receiving Him in Holy Communion.