Advent begins
Whether you’ve never marked Advent, don’t know much about it, or would like a refresher course, here are a couple of good ones.
Over at Shouts in the Piazza, Fr. Guy gives an extensive review of the season and it’s rituals and wreaths (and I’ll bet there’s a surprise or two there for a lot of people.)
Why folks feel that it’s necessary and/or appropriate to have Christmas parties before Christmas and then spend the Christmas season doing nothing is beyond me. Yet that seems rather commonplace these days. We wind up spending all of Advent celebrating Christmas and then spend Christmas (which is a season NOT a day) taking down the decorations which many of us have had up since before Thanksgiving!
But, see, much of our society does not even realize that that’s misguided. They think the “Christmas season” is from at least Thanksgiving, until maybe December 25 of 26, and some actually stretch that out to New Year.
The word “Advent†means the arrival and we should use this all too brief four weeks to prepare not only for the commemoration of the Lord’s first arrival but for His continued arrival in our lives and in our hearts.
Check out his explanation. It’s a good grounding for the season…the real one.
And here’s a wealth of resources for you and your family.
In Advent, Christians relive a dual impulse of the spirit:Â on the one hand, they raise their eyes towards the final destination of their pilgrimage through history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, remembering with emotion his birth in Bethlehem, they kneel before the Crib.
The hope of Christians is turned to the future but remains firmly rooted in an event of the past. In the fullness of time, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary:Â “Born of a woman, born under the law”, as the Apostle Paul writes (Gal 4: 4).
— Pope Benedict XVI –
First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2005
“The Nativity Story is out on the big screen.” Benedict is continually calling for the recognition of historical roots while moving into a future of new efforts for Christian unity. Seems like a pivotal moment to renew the Advent message.