Advent Season

The ADVENT Season was introduced this morning at the Community Chapter.

The Homily was addressed by Brother Celestine.

ADVENT

The General Norm for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar states that: “The Advent has a two-fold character: as a season to prepare us for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ’s Second Coming at th

e end of time. Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation.”

Though intrinsically linked with the incarnation of Christ at Christmas, advent really directs our minds and hearts towards the eschatological return of Christ. Initially the word adventus, meaning coming, was synonymous with the fact and the feast of the Incarnation itself, but gradually it came to designate the time just before Christmas.

Just as we recognise that Christmas is not only a commemoration of Christ’s birth as an historical event, but also as the salvific event which brings Christ into the souls of men, so also the Advent designates a time we long for this action to take place in our life. This is aptly expressed by the Oration for the second Sunday of Advent which states: “Stir us up, O Lord, to make ready for your only begotten Son. May we be able to serve you with purity of soul through the coming of him who lives and reigns…”

Not only can the Advent not be understood apart from Christmas, it encompasses the entire mystery of the Incarnation and all that the incarnation implies. Because Christ has come for the first time, he is expected again at the end of time, but in the meantime He is very much present with His Church as he promised. This is the way then we consider the season of advent and Christmas in their full and final achievement. The Advent is at once a commemoration of Christ’s first coming, His presence in the church and an anticipation of His eschatological return when the whole redemptive work will be consummated.

This is the basis for St Bernard’ teaching on the three comings of Christ. This is Christian spirituality’s conception of the Incarnational mystery in the light of its complete and final realization. Between His first and final comings, Christ comes by grace in the heart of men and this coming is a constant phenomenon; it is the very life of the Christian as expressed in the liturgy. This is why the first Sunday continues the eschatological theme begun on the thirty-third Sunday of the Church’s year. It is by living the mystery of Christ’s presence here and now that we prepare to welcome him in the final phase of His coming.

Marked by a spirit of great expectation and preparation, we anticipate the judgement on sin and our calling to accountability before God. Yet unlike those who have no hope, Christians anticipates the arrival of Christ in a profoundly joyous way: It is in the spirit of the bridesmaid who joyously and anxiously await the Bridegroom. By our humble prayers, devotion and commitment we long for the coming King, who will deliver us from all evils. Hence the Church calls out to the Lord, with messianic hope and expectations:

Come, O come Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel.