75 Best Advent Quotes Perfect For The Christmas Season

Harriet Sambrook
Dec 12, 2023 By Harriet Sambrook
Originally Published on Jan 07, 2021
Edited by Isobel Murphy
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Christmas tree decorated with gifts in house interior.

Why Advent Quotes?

For Christians, Advent means the arrival of a notable person or thing, namely the arrival of Jesus Christ. Despite its uncertain origins, the Advent season begins four weeks before Christmas.

It is marked by preparation and prayer for the birth of Jesus Christ. On the first Sunday of Advent, the church will begin lighting four candles that encircle the white Christ candle.

The candles represent happiness, optimism, peace, and love. The days leading up to Christmas are filled with joyful expectancy for the season's gifts. Advent is, therefore, a time of longing and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and also for Christ's return at the Second Coming.

Many Christian denominations observe Advent, including the Catholic, Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions. Holidays are celebrated in a variety of ways by people all around the globe.

What should parents know?

  • Advent itself is a blessing. A time to take in the sights and sounds of the season and anticipate its delights. Through the lens of expectation, celebration, and readiness, everyone can comprehend God's message of love and redemption in the birth of his son.
  • In this Advent season, everyone reflects on the miracles and promises that fill their lives.
  • By commemorating this period, we also remember the value of hope, the delight of anticipation, and the benefits of patience.

What to discuss with kids?

  • Advent is a period of waiting and preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Christmas is a time to celebrate his birth.
  • The liturgical year begins with Advent. The Liturgical Calendar is the Christian calendar, often known as the church year. It is a set of yearly dates set aside by many believers to reflect on and celebrate Jesus's life.
  • The date of Advent changes every year. Because Advent traditionally starts four Sundays before Christmas Day, its official start date is relative to the day of Christmas itself.

Religious Advent Quotes‍

1. "Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise." - Karl Rahner

2. "At this Christmas, when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God's own love and concern." - Mother Teresa  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

3. "The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord." - Henri Nouwen

4. "Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited." - Thomas Merton

5. "Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in this season, the whole Church is called to be hope, for itself and for the world." - Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)

6. "God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you." - Matthew Kelly

7. "Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem. May we let ourselves be drawn by the light of God made man." - Pope Francis

8. "The celebration of Advent is possible only to those troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

9. "The waiting of Advent teaches us to live in increments, in small pieces rather than large chunks. Waiting also teaches us to measure our progress slowly." - Holly Whitcomb

10. The Advent season means something is on the horizon, the likes of which we have never seen before. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be enough time for running. - Jan Richardson

11."Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts." - Edward Hays, 'A Pilgrim's Almanac'.

12. "Advent is the season of the seed: the seed, Christ said, is the word of God sown in the human heart." - Caryll Houselander, 'The Reed Of God'

Inspiring Advent Quotes‍

13. "Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent; one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other- things that are of no real consequence- the door is shut and can be opened only from the outside." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'Letters from Prison', November 21, 1943

14. "Author Glennon Doyle Melton wrote, 'Every time we open our mouths and speak, we are either saying let there be light or let there be darkness' ". -Max Lucado

15. "Christmas isn't just a temporal celebration or the memory of a beautiful (event); Christmas is more … Christmas is an encounter!" – Pope Francis

16. "Advent creates people, new people." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

17. "It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope." - Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)

18. "The advent of truth, like the dawn of day, agitates the elements, while it disperses the gloom." - Elias Lyman Magoon

19. "Out of the darkness, into the light: the time before Christmas is the time of light and mutual love." - Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann, '24 Days Until Christmas: 24 Christmas Poems'

20. "Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself." - Bill McKibben

21. "The word advent means 'expectation'. What advent can do for us is create a sense of hope." - Louie Giglio

Advent Bible Verses And Advent Scripture

22. "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." - Galatians 4:4-5

23. "Christmas is fast approaching. And now that Christ has aroused our seasonal expectations, he'll soon fulfill them all!" - St. Augustine, 'Sermon 51'

24. "So the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." - John 3:14

25."He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord." - Luke 1: 14-15

26. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

27 . "When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy." - Luke: 1:57-58

28. "The Lord, your God, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him." - Deuteronomy 18:15

29. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." - Micah 5:2

30. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, so that in the power of the Holy Spirit you may be rich in hope." – Romans 15:13

31. "For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." – John 3:16

Distinctive Advent Quotes

32. "Into this world, this demented inn
in which there is absolutely no room for him at all,
Christ comes uninvited." - Thomas Merton

33. "That's the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High Priest. That's what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing." - John Piper

34. "For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last." - 'The Magnificent Defeat', Frederick Buechner

35. "First, I have not minded so much leaving the Garden because God, blessed be his holy name, has never abandoned us." - Katerina Whitley

36. "Anticipation lifts the heart. Desire is created to be fulfilled - perhaps not all at once, more likely in slow stages. Isaiah uttered his prophetic words about the renewal of the natural Creation into a wilderness of spiritual barrenness and thirst." - Luci Shaw

37. "The prayers focus on preparing for Christ's coming at Christmas, His Infancy, and the Epiphany." - 'Catholic Christmas Prayers', Marie Noël

38. "Out of the Darkness, Into the Light: The Time before Christmas is the Time of Light and mutual Love." - '24 Days Until Christmas: 24 Christmas Poems', Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann

39. "Too many good ideas are overwhelming, and they can keep us from doing anything at all." - 'Shadow and Light: A Journey into Advent', Tsh Oxenreider

40. "To move us to penance, and to induce us to prepare our souls for the coming of Christ, by placing the Last Judgment before our minds." - 'The Church's Year', Leonard Goffiné

41. "When we soften our thoughts and open our hearts to the coming season of Christmas, we make room for Jesus: in our kind gestures, our giving hands, a warm smile and peace extended to our neighbors. Christmas is the season for His perfect love." - 'Daddy's Little Girl: A Father's Prayer', Allene vanOirschot

42. "It is now, at Advent, that I am given the chance to suspend all expectation...and instead to revel in the mystery." - 'A Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting, and Coming Together', Jerusalem Jackson Greer

43. "At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving others with God's own love and concern." - 'Love: A Fruit Always in Season', Mother Teresa

44. "This is the homely heart of Incarnation, this meeting of God in man with men and women, this simple face of divine graciousness in ordinary life rather than in the hymns of church fathers or in the dry elaborations of theologians." - 'Joy of Being Human', Eugene Kennedy

45. "With the arrival of Advent, Christians everywhere turn again towards the Savior. Advent marks the beginning of the celebration of His birth and His long-foretold ministry, atonement, death, resurrection, and second coming." - Jean-Michel Hansen

46. Today, as my celebration by candlelight of His first advent draws to a close, I resolve to let Him prevail in my life so that my adoration of Him in the brilliant light of His second advent will be spontaneous, heartfelt, and unrestrained." - Jean-Michel Hansen

47. "To be human is nothing less than to be caught in the great congested pilgrimage of existence and to join ourselves freely to it in the face of the evidence of its never-ending troubles." - 'Joy of Being Human', Eugene Kennedy

48. "The only people who soul can truly magnify the Lord are...people who acknowledge their lowly estate and are overwhelmed by the condescension of the magnificent God." - Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent, John Piper

49. "Let the warmth of expectation kindle in your heart the desire to welcome His love into your daily life." - 'Daddy's Little Girl: A Father's Prayer', Allene vanOirschot

50. "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope." - Romans 15:13 (NLT)

Best Advent Quotes

51. “The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord” - Henri Nouwen

52. “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

53. “Advent increases our hope, a hope which does not disappoint. The Lord never lets us down.” - Pope Francis

54. "At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God’s own love and concern.” - Mother Teresa

55. “In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen.

You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.” - Frederick Buechner

56. “Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem. May we let ourselves be drawn by the light of God made man.” - Pope Francis

57. “The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before … What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you.

And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance.

So stay. Sit. Linger.

Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running.

For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.” - Jan L. Richardson

58. “God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you.” - Matthew Kelly

59. “Advent is patience it’s how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.” - Stanley Hauerwas

60. “The word advent means “expectation.” What advent can do for us is create a sense of hope.” - Louie Giglio

61. “Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when
you’re running yourself.” - Bill McKibben

62. “Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual events of the day are hints that God is giving us, signs of the attention he has for each one of us.” - Pope Benedict XVI

63. “Advent is the season that can remind us God is working while we’re waiting and we’re really waiting with God.”- Louie Giglio

64. “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” - Charles Dickens

65. “Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in this season the whole Church is called to be hope, for itself and for the world.” - Pope Benedict XVI

66. “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes…and is completely dependent on the fact that
the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

67.

“By his own will Christ was dependent on Mary during Advent: he was absolutely helpless; he could go nowhere but where she chose to take him; he could not speak; her breathing was his breath; his heartbeat in the beating of her heart… In the seasons of our Advent – waking, working, eating, sleeping, being – each breath is a breathing of Christ into the world.” - Caryll Houselander

68. “Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child.

This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.” - Pope Benedict XVI

69. “We celebrate the First Advent to whet our appetites for the Second. We long for the next coming.” ~ Max Lucado

70. “Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor.” - Charles Spurgeon

71. “I don’t think we’ll understand Advent correctly until we see it as a preparation for a revolution.” ~ Robert Barron

72. “To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life.

Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously.” - Pope John Paul II

73. “The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened.

We leave the already of His advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back, that we might look forward to His coming.” - R. C. Sproul

74. “Advent creates people, new people.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

75. “Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise.” - Karl Rahner

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Sources

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/advent?page=2

https://healthyspirituality.org/what-is-advent-and-why-is-it-important/

https://guideposts.org/positive-living/10-interesting-advent-facts-to-get-you-in-the-holiday-spirit/

https://newspring.cc/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-advent

https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/what-is-advent-season-in-the-season-of-christmas-best-messages-and-quotes-26201.html

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Written by Harriet Sambrook

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature, Master of Letters specializing in Playwriting and Dramaturgy

Harriet Sambrook picture

Harriet SambrookBachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature, Master of Letters specializing in Playwriting and Dramaturgy

An accomplished writer and theater enthusiast, Harriet has developed a passion for the dramatic arts throughout her career. Originally from Surrey, she completed her undergraduate studies in English literature at the University of East Anglia and later obtained a postgraduate degree in playwriting and dramaturgy from Glasgow University. Now based in Manchester, Harriet enjoys attending as many theatrical performances as possible. With prior experience in marketing and script editing, she brings a wealth of knowledge to any creative project she undertakes.

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