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The Season of Advent
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December 8, 2024
I preached about Advent as the "New Year” of the Catholic Church last Sunday, and so for my letter this week I thought I’d share where we get this term, and why we celebrate it.
The term “Advent” derives from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” Thus it’s a time of waiting and preparation, filled with joy but also with repentance and penance. It anticipates the “coming of Christ” from three different perspectives: the 1st coming in Christ’s Nativity in Bethlehem, Christ’s reception in the heart of the believer, and the return of Christ as King oof the Universe at His Second Coming (which we celebrated two weeks ago).
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day or the Sunday which falls closest to November 30 (thus always between November 27 and December 3), and lasts through Christmas Eve. This year Advent began last Sunday on December 1st. In the Catholic Church’s Roman Rite, the readings of Mass on the four Advent Sundays have distinct themes: on the first (Advent Sunday), the anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming; on the second, St. John the Baptist’s preaching; on the third, (Gaudete or “rejoice” Sunday), the joy of Christ’s upcoming arrival; and on the fourth, the events involving Mary and Joseph leading up to the Nativity.
It’s not known exactly when Advent was first celebrated, but it certainly existed from about 480. For, according to the historian/bishop St. Gregory of Tours, the celebration of Advent had begun in the fifth century when the Bishop Perpetuus of Tours, who died in 490, ordered that the faithful fast three times a week from St. Martin’s Day, November 11th, until Christmas Day. This rule’s degree of strictness changed several times over the centuries. Finally the Second Vatican Council, in order to differentiate the spirit of Advent from that of Lent, emphasized that Advent was a season of hope—the promise of Christ’s Second Coming (although it’s still very helpful habit to fast)..
The Catholic Encyclopedia reports a variation on the origin of Advent, saying that it was a time of fasting and preparation for Epiphany rather than of the anticipation of Christmas, because early converts to Christianity were baptized on the Sunday after Epiphany, the day that commemorates Christ’s baptism. Thus, early-on, Advent lasted 40 days like Lent.
During Advent the Gloria is omitted from Mass, so that only Masses written especially for Advent, such as Missa tempora Quadragesimae in D Minor (1794) for choir and organ by Johann Michael Haydn, (the younger brother of the much more famous Franz Joseph), which has no Gloria, was thus suitable. As we wrote in the bulletin last Sunday, we are blessed to use an original Mass setting (called the Rorate Coeli or “Queen of Heaven” Mass) composed by our talented organist, Mary Nesvadba, for our Advent observance.
Even though the world around us has started hurtling towards Christmas, let us try to keep a sense of waiting and preparation during this short season of Advent.
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook, KHS