Advent
Introduction to the Time of Advent
- Chapter 1: The History of the Time of Advent
- Chapter 2: The Mystery of the Time of Advent
- Chapter 3: The Practice During the Time of Advent
- Chapter 4: Morning and Night Prayers for the Time of Advent
- Chapter 5: On Hearing Mass During the Time of Advent
- Chapter 6: On Holy Communion During the Time of Advent
- Chapter 7: On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts During the Time of Advent
- Chapter 8: On the Office of Compline During the Time of Advent
The name Advent[1] is applied, in the Latin Church, to that period of the year, during which the Church requires the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the feast of Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. The mystery of that great day had every right to the honour of being prepared for by prayer and works of penance; and, in fact, it is impossible to state, with any certainty, when this season of preparation (which had long been observed before receiving its present name of Advent) was first instituted. It would seem, however, that its observance first began in the west, since it is evident that Advent could not have been looked on as a preparation for the feast of Christmas, until that feast was definitively fixed to the twenty-fifth of December; which was done in the east only towards the close of the fourth century; whereas it is certain that the Church of Rome kept the feast on that day at a much earlier period.
If, now that we have described the characteristic features of Advent which distinguish it from the rest of the year, we would penetrate into the profound mystery which occupies the mind of the Church during this season, we find that this mystery of the coming, or Advent, of Jesus is at once simple and threefold. It is simple, for it is the one same Son of God that is coming; it is threefold, because He comes at three different times and in three different ways.
'In the first coming,’ says St. Bernard, 'He comes in the flesh and in weakness; in the second, He comes in spirit and in power; in the third, He comes in glory and in majesty; and the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third.’[1]
This, then, is the mystery of Advent. Let us now listen to the explanation of this threefold visit of Christ, given to us by Peter of Blois, in his third Sermon de Adventu:
IF our holy mother the Church spends the time of Advent in this solemn preparation for the threefold coming of Jesus Christ; if, after the example of the prudent virgins, she keeps her lamp lit ready for the coming of the Bridegroom; we, being her members and her children, ought to enter into her spirit, and apply to ourselves this warning of our Saviour: ‘Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands, and ye yourselves be like unto men who wait for their Lord!’[1] The Church and we have, in reality, the same hopes. Each one of us is, on the part of God, an object of mercy and care, as is the Church herself. If she is the temple of God, it is because she is built of living stones; if she is the bride, it is because she consists of all the souls which are invited to eternal union with God. If it is written that the Saviour hath purchased the Church with His own Blood,[2] may not each one of us say of himself those words of St. Paul, ‘Christ hath loved me, and hath delivered Himself up for me’?[3] Our destiny being the same, then, as that of the Church, we should endeavour during Advent, to enter into the spirit of preparation, which is, as we have seen, that of the Church herself.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
DURING Advent, the Christian, on awaking in the morning, will unite himself with the Church, who, in her Office of Matins, says to us these solemn words, which choirs of religious, men and women, throughout the universe, have been chanting during the deep silence of the night:
Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus.
Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come!
He will profoundly adore this great King, whose coming is so near at hand: and with this idea deeply impressed upon his mind, he will perform the first acts of religion, both interior and exterior, wherewith he begins the day. The time for morning prayer being come, he may use the following method, which is formed upon the very prayers of the Church:
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
There is no exercise which is more pleasing to God, or more meritorious, or which has greater influence in infusing solid piety into the soul, than the assisting at the holy sacrifice of the Mass. If this be true at all the various seasons of the Christian year, it is so, in a very special manner, during the holy time of Advent. The faithful, therefore, should make every effort in order to enjoy this precious blessing, even on those days when they are not obliged to it by the precept of the Church.
With what gratitude ought they to assist at that divine sacrifice, for which the world had been longing for four thousand years! God has granted them to be born after the fulfilment of that stupendous and merciful oblation, and would not put them in the generations of men who died before they could partake of its reality and its riches! This notwithstanding, they must earnestly unite with the Church in praying for the coming of the Redeemer, so to pay their share of that great debt which God has put upon all, whether living before or after the fulfilment of the mystery of the Incarnation. Let them think of this in assisting at the holy sacrifice.