Editorial

What happened to Advent?

Apparently we’re now in the Christmas season. At least, that’s what it looks like. Christmas lights are up all around the city and in rural areas, and Christmas celebrations, even if in limited form because of COVID-19, are ready to begin in earnest. Of course, the stores have had their Christmas decorations up for a long time already.

Soon people who still send Christmas cards to relatives and friends will get them in the mail, and they’ll start to wish one another a “Merry Christmas”—unless they think that sounds too religious and they substitute “happy holidays.”

But what happened to Advent? This Sunday, Nov. 29, will be the first day of the Advent season, not the Christmas season. Doesn’t anyone observe Advent anymore?

Yes, the Catholic Church, among others, does. It doesn’t rush the season as our secular society does. Rather, it prepares for the season of Christmas. Then it observes the Christmas season until the feast of the baptism of Jesus, two Sundays after Jan. 6, long after most people have taken down the Christmas tree, stashed away their Christmas decorations and stopped listening to Christmas music.

Advent has a twofold character for Christians. It is both a season meant to prepare us for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is commemorated, and a season when we should direct our minds and hearts to await Christ’s second coming at the end of time. It is, therefore, a period for devout and joyful expectation.

Historically, some period of preparation for Christmas began at least as far back as the mid-fourth century, but the type of celebration and its duration have varied. In some places, the season was longer than it is today—in Gaul (France) it began on the feast of

St. Martin of Tours—on Nov. 11—while in other places it was rather brief.

Even today the length of the season varies. For Roman Catholics, this year’s Advent will be three weeks and five days. It can be as short as three weeks and one day. The Ambrosian Rite’s Advent lasts six weeks. (The Ambrosian Rite is one of the Catholic Church’s non-Roman rites that exists in and around Milan, Italy, and is named after St. Ambrose, who was archbishop of Milan from 374 to 397.)

On the other hand, most of the Catholic Church’s Eastern Rites observe only a short “pre-feast” period before Christmas.

Advent was sometimes observed like Lent, as a time of penance, again mainly in Gaul. In 11th-century Scotland, St. Margaret and her husband, King Malcolm, observed “two Lents,” one before Christmas and the other before Easter, with fasting and extra almsgiving.

In most places today, the penitential aspect of Advent has been replaced with joyful anticipation.

During the first part of Advent, until Dec. 16, that joyful anticipation is directed toward Christ’s second coming. The first Scripture reading during Masses is usually from the prophet Isaiah, while the Gospel readings show how Jesus fulfilled the prophetic promises. John the Baptist, with his emphasis on repentance, makes his appearance.

Beginning on Dec. 17, the Old Testament readings proclaim the most important Messianic prophesies, while the Gospel readings describe the events immediately before the birth of Christ. Mary and Joseph, of course, are the most prominent figures.

One of the popular Advent devotions, in homes as well as in churches, is the Advent wreath. It is a circle of evergreens with four candles that are lighted successively in the weeks of Advent to symbolize the approaching celebration of the birth of Christ, the Light of the World. The wreath originated among German Catholics and Lutherans in the 16th century.

There is certainly nothing wrong with Catholics joining our culture’s secular celebration of the Christmas season, especially with its emphasis on gift giving and making charitable contributions to organizations that help the poor. Christmas has long been a wondrous time for children, and that’s good. Santa Claus has long been an important part of Christmas for children.

However, as our society joyfully anticipates the secular season of Christmas, let us Christians remember its religious significance. Christians have long urged that we “keep Christ in Christmas,” and that’s a good place to start.

—John F. Fink