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.”