WHAT IS ADVENT?

At this time of the year Christians are invited to prepare for Christmas by joining in the activities of the Advent season. ‘Advent’ derives from the Latin word adventus, which means ‘coming’. The Advent season is a four-week lead-up to Christmas, when we celebrate the coming of Jesus.

In the Church’s early history the weeks now set aside for Advent were used to prepare for the feast of the Epiphany (6 January). Before Christmas Day became a feast day, Epiphany was the main feast at this time of the year. It celebrated God’s manifestation of himself to the world through the revelation of his Son Jesus to the three Wise Men from the East, and through them to the wider world. It was also the day when Christians celebrated the baptism of Jesus, and it became the preferred day for new members of the Church to be baptised.

Once the Feast of the Nativity (Birth of Jesus) became a recognized feast, the various European observances which Christians used to prepare for Epiphany were transferred to preparations for Christmas. Some churches recommended that the 21 days of prayer and fasting used to prepare for Epiphany be used to prepare for Christmas.

In Rome the Church tried to counter the mid-December celebration of the pagan god Saturn – often a time of gross and excessive behaviour – by urging Christians to devote themselves to prayer and fasting during this time. In some places the Advent period was modelled on Lent, with its regimen of fasting and self-denial. Eventually the Roman Church settled on a four-week Advent preparation for Christmas, and retained some of the penitential aspects of the earlier pre-Epiphany practices.

As the Advent liturgy developed, two emphases emerged.

In some parts of the Church the message to Christians was simple: treat the Lord’s coming at Christmas as his personal visitation and a time of grace for each person. This was called the ‘first coming’ of Jesus, and in the Advent prayers and readings for this understanding of Christmas the accent was on joyful anticipation of the Lord’s visitation.

In Ireland and parts of Europe another emphasis appeared. This linked the Lord’s first coming with his ‘second coming’, at the end of time, when he will come to judge the living and the dead and assign them to their places for eternity. The readings and preaching for this kind of liturgy stressed vigilance and readiness for the Lord’s second coming. The accent here was less on the joyful aspects of Christmas than on a warning to be ready for the Last Judgement.

Eventually Rome ruled that Christmas was to be the Church’s main feast for this time of year, and that the Advent season was to be the four weeks leading up to Christmas, with the first Sunday of Advent becoming the start of the Church’s liturgical year. The Church today recognises both ‘comings’ of Jesus, but the readings and prayers for this time emphasize more the first coming rather than the second.

A feature of our Advent liturgies is the ‘Advent Wreath’, a symbol of what this season means.

The wreath is a ring of evergreen leaves with four candles, one for each week of Advent. The circular shape of the wreath represents God’s unending love. The green leaves represent life and growth. The candles symbolize Jesus the light of the world. The first candle is the prophets’ candle – the prophets prepared the way for the Lord’s coming. The second is the Bethlehem candle, signifying the birthplace of Jesus. The third is the shepherds’ candle: the shepherds were the first people to visit Jesus and his parents. The fourth candle is the angels’ candle: angels told the shepherds about Jesus’ birth, and an angel came to Mary to ask her to be the mother of Jesus.

So, our Advent preparation leads us into the celebration of the Lord’s coming at Christmas, and then to his revelation to the world at Epiphany.

Paul J. Duffy SJ
Hawthorn Parish   

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