ADVENT: A TIME TO BEGIN AGAIN

november 27, 2009

This Sunday marks the beginning of the Church's year of worship.  It is the first Sunday of Advent, the season dedicated to helping us prepare for Christmas.  This is a good moment to see how the Church worships throughout the year, and then to see how we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas.

In the first centuries of the Church, Christians began simply by celebrating the "memory of the Lord".  Mass was then, as it is now, the memorial of the death and glorification of Christ.  This is why Sunday, the day of the resurrection, was chosen as the weekly day on which to celebrate the holy Eucharist, and why Easter was the first feast to be specially observed in the Church.  Since it was so important as the feast of the redemption, Christians extended the Easter observance for seven weeks ‑‑ a week of weeks.  Then Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the young Church, was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, and was considered the completion of the work of redemption.

Since Easter was such an important feast, Christians began dedicating forty days to preparing for it, just as Jesus dedicated 40 days in the desert preparing for his active ministry.  This season came to be known as Lent, and it completed the first and greatest of the two major cycles of the Church's year of worship ‑‑ Lent, Easter, Pentecost.

The other cycle is the one we now begin ‑‑ Advent, Christmas, Epiphany.  Christians began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the fourth century.  Following the custom of the day they observed a feast in honor of their ruler, Christ the Lord.  They chose December 25 because it had been a pagan feast in honor of the sun, and Christians wanted to identify Christ as THE SON and the true Light of the world.  The feast of the Epiphany arose in the Eastern Church.  The word means "showing forth", and it celebrates the showing forth of the Savior to the three mysterious figures, called the three Magi or Wise Men, who came from the East to see the newborn Savior.

The time between these two major seasons is called ordinary time.  During this time, Jesus' earthly ministry and teaching are recalled and celebrated.

What we want to catch hold of most of all is the SPIRIT of the Church's year.  That spirit is the spirit of God's work, redeeming us in Christ.  The liturgical year is not a mere representation of past events.  It is Christ himself, living on in His Church, calling his people to life and empowering them, through the Holy Spirit, to do the works of God.  In the Mass, he brings people into contact with His mysteries, so that they may draw life from them.

The mysteries we celebrate in Advent help bring about our salvation.  The Scriptures for this season speak about the need for being prepared and for watchfulness, because, they remind us, Christ comes when we least expect.  To recognize our moment of salvation, we need a pure mind, an unbiased heart, a wholesome attitude, and an openness to God's goodness.  Otherwise Jesus will become a stranger to us and pass us by to be born outside our city.

During Advent we are challenged to believe in the unexplored treasures still hidden in ourselves and in others.  It is a time to make good intentions and to awaken ourselves anew to the reality of God. St. Paul's counsel was:  "Let us live honorably as in daylight, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy."  Advent is a time to hope for God's graciousness beyond our wildest expectations and a time to believe that we are not so far from the kingdom of God.  For as St. Paul says, "Salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith".

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap