ADVENT

ADVENT

Advent and Christmastide have a warmth and beauty all of their own. The drama set before us in the liturgy is the greatest story ever told: the virginal conception, the speechlessness of Zechariah, the birth of John the Baptist, the shepherds in the field, the three wise men, the escape to Egypt, the slaughter of the innocents, the prophets Simeon and Anna, and the profound proclamations of the Benedictus and Magnificat. The whole story is ever new and fresh – as fresh as the Babe on whom it is centred.

What made our earliest childhood Christmases so special was the sense of expectation and anticipation that began when the calendar switched to the 12^th month and built up slowly and surely over the coming weeks until the festal day itself. There were many signs that drew us on this time-journey: the Christmas trees piled up on in the markets, even overflowing the pavements, the fairy lights in shop windows, the toy shops displays, tiny tin pot kiosks touting “Xmas Cakes”, the coming of the school holidays, the sending and receiving of cards, the smells and baking of cakes, puddings, and roasts, the ever imaginative designing of cribs, the Christmas-eve confession and so much more. And now-a-days the festive season sales of “up to 50% discount (‘conditions apply’)!” Every sense was stimulated in some way and we all carry with us sights, smells and sounds that remind us of those hearty Christmases.

The season of Advent parallels this anticipation in liturgical terms. The beauty and holiness of the season is captured eloquently by Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes, wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, the bird of dawning singeth all night long; and then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad: the nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, no fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm; so hallowed and so gracious is the time.”

Once again, we have entered a hallowed and sacred time. Has the season become so secularised that we have lost sight of what the Catechism of the Catholic tells us? “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviour’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming” (no. 524). The Sundays of Advent, together with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, are designed to help us reflect on the coming of Christ into our world, on his continuous coming into our lives every day and on his final coming when we look forward to sharing his life in glory.  We will prefer to let the accidental trash of life be consumed by suffering in order that his glory may come out clean in everything we do.

It makes great sense to stay watchful and alert, not allowing ourselves to feel that we live in a settled situation, but, rather, to read the signs of the times, make use of the opportunities, and place our talents for the building of the “new earth and new heaven.” For sure, life has a frenetic pace about it, and Christmas seems to highlight this more than any other time of the year.

We are either preparing to meet Jesus Christ or we are not – there is no middle path.  Our faith enables us to believe that his day is this day, this very hour, for the Lord keeps coming – in the sacraments, surely, but also in people, in our daily tasks, in the challenges of today’s world. In his 1^st. letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul emphasises the point – “stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to…stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” It is a confidence that comes from following Christ’s example of prayer and active good living.