This time of year, we tend to see and hear two competing seasonal messages. On the one hand, stores, television, radio, internet, decorations, parties and countless other things tell us that Christmas season has arrived and that we ought to celebrate it. On the other, we hear almost as often the complaint that Christmas has begun too early and that we should wait to celebrate it at the proper time. I'm not writing to tell you either of these things.
I'm writing to remind you to celebrate what may be the most forgotten season of the year, the season of Advent! Now just about halfway over, Advent is the season that runs for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Advent is a season with very rich traditions of music, symbols, and practice, and although it's rare to see or hear much of these anymore unless you are a faithful Mass-goer, it's still one of the four predominant seasons of the year and one which we should do our best to benefit from.
In Latin, the season is called Adventus,which means a coming or arrival, and it looks towards the coming or arrival of Christ. Of course, we celebrate his historical coming as a man in Bethlehem on Christmas, which Advent prepares us for. However, Advent also looked forward to the second coming of Christ at the end of time. For this reason, Advent historically began as a primarily penitential season, very much like Lent. In fact, there used to be prescribed fasting and abstinence from meat during Advent just as in Lent. It was a time to do penance to show sorrow for sin and to build self-discipline against sin in preparation for the return of Christ when he will judge each person according to his works.
This aspect of Advent remains, but as the Church's Liturgy and theology has developed over the centuries it has put emphasis on Advent as a time of hopeful expectation and preparation. As Christians, we are called to approach the coming of Christ - whether at time's end or simply the end of our individual lives - with a sober humility looking toward the reality of judgment, but also with a joyful longing in which we hope for the peace and happiness that he will bring to the faithful. We should want him to come in his love for us. This idea is prevalent in many Advent hymns, such as "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" or any of the "Maranatha" hymns, in which we ask Christ to come soon. It may be fair to say that today, during the season of Lent the Church calls us to penance while keeping an underlying spirit of preparation and expectation, while in Advent the Church calls us to prepare and look with hopeful expectation while keeping an underlying spirit of penance.
Most practically, during Advent we can consider a third coming of Christ: his coming into our hearts and lives at every moment. He truly came some 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, and he will truly come again to judge us, but we must never forget that each of these comings are ordered toward the simple reality that he wants to enter into our hearts now. He is constantly knocking at the door of each of our hearts, asking to be let in. During Advent, we should in a particular way try to open ourselves to him. Allow him to fill your heart with his grace. Allow him to make you more faithful, more patient, more generous. Allow him to make you less selfish, less greedy, less short tempered. The joy of Christmas is something which, ultimately, Christ offers to our hearts each and every day of the year.
So don't forget Advent! While we are preparing our homes, schedules, and wallets for the celebration of Christ's coming at Christmas, let us most importantly spend this season of Advent spiritually preparing our hearts for his coming in the here and now.
