This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent

“Now we watch for the day, hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours when Christ our Lord will come again in his glory.” The Roman Missal, Advent Preface I.

Advent is a time of preparation and transformation, it is an approximately four-week period in which Catholics are invited to reflect and contemplate how they can spiritually prepare themselves not just for Christmas Day, but for the Second Coming of Christ. Advent not only brings to mind the first coming of Jesus with his birth in Bethlehem, but it also anticipates Christ’s return at the end of time.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “when the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ “(524).

Inviting us to reflect on God becoming man, the Season of Advent also challenges us to examine our sinfulness and transgressions in preparation for the second coming.

When John the Baptizer made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea, this was his theme. “Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand.” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A herald’s voice in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

The word advent originates from the Latin word adventus, which means coming or arrival. In the Roman Catholic tradition Advent commences on the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Advent can start as early as November 27th, affording a period of 28 days or it can begin as late as December 3rd, giving the church a cycle of 21 days.

The First Sunday of Advent begins a new liturgical phase and a new liturgical year in the Catholic Church.

Excerpted from What Every Catholic Needs to Know About Advent Christmas by Kevin McGloin, Resource Publications.

Kevin McGloin