The Advent Debate
Lately I
have heard of a local ongoing debate, which I fear is probably
pretty much universal, regarding the Season of Advent. The debate
focuses on whether Advent is just a time of preparation for Christmas,
could we then call it a pre-Christmas, or a penitential season.
The Church's answer, as usual, stands in the middle - "Virtus in medio
stat." While it is a time for preparation for the great Feast of
the Nativity of the Son of God made Man - and as such what a wonderful
event that is - it is also a penitential season, that is, a time of
penance and sacrifice. When we were little, those of us who were
fortunate enough to have had good old fashioned sisters as our
teachers in grade school, were told to make many acts of penance
and self-abnegation, sacrifices, special devotions and to have a crib
for the Baby Jesus in which we would put a piece of straw for each
act we performed. The idea was that we would have so many acts of
penance that we would make a comfy bed for the Baby Jesus. It was
childlike, yes, and simple. But isn't Christmas all about childlikeness
and simplicity? The idea was that according to age-old Church
practice Advent was - and is - a season of penance. That is very
difficult in the post-Christian and secularized world in which most of
us live. Christmas carols and decorations spring up as early as
Halloween (yes) in many places and for the most part after Thanksgiving.
Those same decorations are thrown out and the carols cease the day
after Christmas. We as Catholics should be counter cultural - as
Pope John Paul II often reminded us. Christmas lasts for forty days
until Candle on February 2nd - which goes back to the Law of Moses which
Christ came to fulfill to perfection. The Vatican is a good sign of
this since by order of the Pope the ancient Roman practice of
leaving up all Nativity scenes (even in St. Peter's Square) until Feb.
2nd has been both kept up and restored in the last few years (as
far as St. Peter's is concerned). Thus we have Forty Days of Christmas.
It is then that we should have Christmas parties and feasts, not before
Christmas Eve. In too many quarters, too many Parishes, and Catholic
organizations we have succumbed to the ways of the world. Instead of
bringing the light of the Truth to the world we have molded ourselves
about its erroneous criteria. This must change.
On the other
hand we have this time of Advent. It is a Season of Penance for
which the Church vests Herself in violet or purple (except Gaudete Sunday
in Rose which signifies a lessening of the rigors of penance). So it
is a Penitential Season, primarily. Yes, it is a time of preparation
for the Birth of Christ, just as Lent is a time of preparation for
Easter. Does that mean we start to celebrate Christmas before Christmas
and forget the penance which our Faith and Tradition tell us we must
do? Does that mean we start to celebrate Easter on Ash Wednesday and
forget our Lenten penance? I think we all know the answer. The Liturgy
and Discipline of the Church (which follows the Liturgy) tell us
otherwise. We prepare for Christmas - or for Easter - by repentance,
by penances, sacrifices, increased quality and time and number of
prayers and devotions. We gather, as it were, many pieces of straw to
make His crib more comfortable. So yes, this is a time to performs
acts of fasting and abstinence. Of giving witness - "No I cannot
partake of that because I am preparing for Christmas which starts, not
ends, on Christmas Day." It is a time of renewed repentance. A
time to make a good Confession of our sins. Needless to say, we
repeat with John Paul II, the desire and advice to all that they
should go to Confession regularly, at least once a month. The just
man sins seven times a day. Once or twice a year is hardly
sufficient to make a good thorough confession or to partake in the
elements of spiritual growth which this wonderful Sacrament affords
us. It is a time when we should try to attend and participate in the
Sacred Mysteries of the Mass and perhaps in at least the readings of
the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours which are so very
beautiful. A time to meditate more deeply in the Joyful Mysteries of
the Rosary with Her who was so essentially central to their taking
place and their remembrance by the Evangelists and the early Church.
With St. John the Baptist who plays a central role in this Season we
also must yell from the rooftops: "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at
hand!" "Make straight the ways of the Lord!" Fill in the valleys and
bring down the mountains of our sins so the Lord's coming will be easy
and fruitful for us. Repent! Prepare! Rejoice, because our salvation
is close at hand!
Fr. Héctor R.G. Pérez
y Robles, STD
A priest of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese