Post on 14-Jan-2015
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Welcome!
The Season of
Advent
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,the resolve to run forth to meet your Christwith righteous deeds at his coming,so that, gathered at his right hand,they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever.
- Collect, I Sunday of Advent
Making time
Time (chronos) is a human concept.
We move through time, occupying no more than one point:
Past --- Present --- Future
We measure time, we analyze it,we follow it: in the stars, the sun,online (http://time.nist.gov), GPS, even on the radio!
Making timeWe interact with others, and
choose to contact God in ourown time, in our own way.
To do that we use the months and even the seasons of the year,the weeks in each month, the hours of every day,and even the very minutes and seconds.
Making time holy
God, however, is beyond time :
His “time” (kairos) is always NOW.
And yet through time and history is the presence of the Holy Spirit! (Vatican II, Dei Verbum)
And God chooses to speak to us, in this limited, human chronological time.
But do we listen?
Making time holyTake a few minutes…and ask yourself and your neighbors:
• How can I make my time holy?
• How do I make my time holy?
The Liturgical Year exerts
“a special sacramental power
and influence which
strengthens Christian life.”(National Directory for Catechesis, 37A)
The Church, sanctifying the whole year
How the Calendar is Determined
Our calendar is arranged around the two principal feasts of the Church:Christmas (Celebrating the Incarnation)Easter (Celebrating the Resurrection)
All seasons and dates are based on what day of the week Christmas falls on, and the date ofEaster Sunday. This is publicly announcedeach year on the Feast of the Epiphany.
Start with Christmas (In 2013, Christmas is on a Wednesday) then, count back to the previous Sunday.
IV Sunday in Advent: December 22III Sunday in Advent (Gaudete Sunday): December 15II Sunday in Advent: December 8I Sunday in Advent (The beginning of the Liturgical Year): December 1
Advent is LONGEST if Christmas is on a Sunday Advent is SHORTEST if Christmas is on a Monday
How to tell when it’s Advent
Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning "coming" or
"arrival." The focus of the entire season
is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in his First Advent,
and the anticipation of the return of Christ in his Second
Advent.
In the Fourth and Fifth Centuries A.D.,
Advent was a preparation not for Christmas…but for
Epiphany.
Epiphany was set aside as an opportunity for new Christians to be baptized. Believers spent 40 days examining their hearts and doing penance – just like
Lent.
Pope St. Gregory the Great (d. 604)
was the real architect of Advent. He fixed the season at four weeks,
and composed the seasonal prayers that
we are familiar with today.
By the Sixth Century, Christians began linking this season to the
coming of Christ. But the "coming" that was celebrated was not the infancy of Jesus, but His Second Coming.
In the Middle Ages, though, the Church began using Advent to prepare to celebrate Christ's
birth.
Color for Advent is VIOLET, a “regal” color of expectation
On the Advent Wreath: Light one candle for each week of Advent, beginning on Saturday evening (the vigil).
Three Violet candles, one Rose(“Purple” and “Pink” are NOT liturgical colors!!)
More about Advent
The Rose candle is lit on the third week as a sign of celebration (Gaudete, Latin for “rejoice!”) since Advent is more than half over
The “wreath” is a circle, which represents God, who is eternal. Evergreens are used for the same symbolic purpose
“First” Readings for the season come from Isaiah: descriptions of the “End Times” and the Messiah
More about Advent
CHRISTMAS: The First Feast Celebrates the Incarnation (“being made
into flesh”) and birth of Jesus Since the 3rd Century AD, occurs on
December 25 This date was set because the Roman
Empire celebrated the winter solstice (“birth” of the sun out of winter darkness), so when the Empire became Christian, it celebrated the birth of Jesus on this day
One day feast, with an octave (the feast day itself and seven more days of feasting = eight days). The only other feast with an “octave” is Easter.
Color in church: White (and usually gold) Traditional celebration of Christmas
occurred at “Midnight Mass,” but earlier vigils now happen
Gospel of Luke: Account of the birth of Jesus
NOTE: Santa Claus is actually associated with St. Nicholas (sant niklaas), whose feast is December 6. It was “moved” to Christmas for “commercial
reasons.” Imagine that!
CHRISTMAS: The First Feast
Starts on the Vigil Mass celebrated on December 24, not the day after Thanksgiving!
The time after Christmas continues to celebrate the birth of Jesus
One or two weeks (originally “12 days”) Celebration on New Year’s Day marks the
Octave: Mary, the Mother of God (January 1)
Traditionally goes from Christmas to the Feast of Epiphany (usually January 6)
CHRISTMAS: The Season
aka “Three Kings Day” Celebrates the visit of the Magi (in
Matthew) Traditionally on January 6 (the last day of
the “Twelve days of Christmas”)
One day feast Color in Church: White/Gold In many countries and in Europe, this day
– not Christmas – is the “gift giving day” (Italy: la Befana)
EPIPHANY: The Next Feast
Celebrates the baptism of the adult Jesus by John in the Jordan River, marking the beginning of Christ’s public ministry
The Sunday after Epiphany, and a one day feast
Color in Church: White/Gold Officially ends the Christmas season The First Week of Ordinary Time (I)
begins on the following day
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Where are the Themes?
Songs – Music Light – Darkness Color – Purple (blue), Pink (white) Symbols Rituals Special Biblical Stories Special Prayers
All are inter-related to nurture spiritual understanding, meaning, depth, engagement and for on-going conversion.
The season of Advent has a twofold character. It is a time of preparation for Christ when the
first coming of God’s Son to men is recalled. It is also a season when
minds are directed by this memorial to Christ's second
coming at the end of time. It us thus a SEASON OF JOYFUL
EXPECTATION.
(General Norms for the Liturgical Year, 39)
How are Christians to enter into the Season of Advent?
Advent Spirituality: Renewal
History (past) --Present (today) --Future (destiny w/God)
Theological “Advents” of Christ
All sorts of “comings” in scriptureAnnunciationWedding at CanaRoad to Emmaus
People are transformed as Jesus is revealed to them and to all in a new way
These are called “little advents” of Christ!
Think about your own “little advents”
How does Christ come to you in your life, as you know it
right now?
All sacraments are visible
outward signs of the presence
of Christ working in our
community.
Non-liturgical advents take
place in the kindness of
strangers, the generosity of
friends, or the support of loved
ones.
“Advent means that every
person
and every Christian is and
should be an advent person -
not just in this part of the
church year, but also in his or
her entire life…
“This means being a person
who cooperatively enacts the
one and final movement of the
world and history toward God’s
arrival in it in freedom, in faith,
hope, and love.” (Karl Rahner)
A call to engage one’s
vocation,
one’s relationships,
one’s hope,
one’s life in God,
in an active presence, a ‘holy
waiting’.
What does “holy waiting” look like in the liturgical life?
Your life?
Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.” (Mark 1:3)
Advent can transform the
body of Christ into a living,
acting,
and awaiting society!
How?
The challenge of Advent is
steering hearts and minds
away
from the commercialism and
secularization of Christmas
and into “waiting in joyful
hope
for the coming of our
savior,
Jesus Christ.”