Following is the bulletin insert from my parents' church. HandyGramps emailed this to me & gave me permission to share it here on my blog. May you all have a wonderfully, blessed Advent!
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ADVENT Year B
(November 30-December 21, 2014)
Advent
is a struggle to balance the spiritual and the secular. First, as Christians, we see lying before us a four thousand year
wait, encapsulated in the four weeks of Advent.
Each week takes us ever closer to the “Reason for the Season” – the
celebration of the birth of Christ. On
the 1st Sunday of Advent (this
is Year B of the three year cycle of readings), we have a sort of preamble that
foreshadows the Second Coming of Christ.
We are told to watch, for we do not know when the Master will return. That may seem to be getting things backward,
starting with the end times; but it makes sense in that it reminds us of the
reason for Christ coming in the first place, to open the way to eternal life for
those who choose to follow Him. The 2nd Sunday of Advent presents
us with the ministry of John the Baptist, heralding the coming of Christ’s
ministry. John baptizes with water;
Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
On the 3rd Sunday of Advent,
the Gospel ends with John handing off the ministry of salvation to Jesus. We often refer to it as “John diminishes as
Christ increases”. And, finally, on the 4th Sunday of Advent, we
find ourselves hearing the story of the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells
her that God has chosen her to bear His only Son whom she is to name
Jesus. Mary graciously accepts the
invitation, setting the stage for the Nativity.
Second, as a people bound for the
moment by this world, we are surrounded by all the trappings of the holiday
season – Santa Claus, Christmas trees, glimmering lights, presents, parties,
etc. Despite their secular overtones, each
of these carries an image of what Christmas is really all about, for they have
a distinct connection to Christ. Santa
Claus is derived from the generosity of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra. The evergreen tree represents eternal life. The gifts remind us of the Magi. And so on.
But, these things are also wrapped in the cloak of commercialism, which
can often distract us from their more spiritual dimension. The call of big profits urges stores to “go
Christmas” earlier and earlier – even by late August artificial trees were already
showing up in stores. By participating
in the Advent liturgies we can pull ourselves away from the mundane and enter the
miraculous. By celebrating the Advent
Masses we can put the whole season in proper perspective. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with
having a good time during such a joyful season.
We just need to be mindful of the relative importance of the secular and
the spiritual, understanding that in the end the spiritual trumps the secular
mightily.
In the 2015 Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays published by
Liturgy Training Publications, the introduction to the Advent Season points out
that Advent enables us to focus on two aspects of the season. First is the immanence of God: “Christ is
still taking on flesh and He is continually present through His Body, the
Church.” If we look around us with the
eyes of faith, we can see Christ everywhere.
He is in the members of our families, where love and forgiveness and
compassion are most closely present to us.
We see Him in those who celebrate the liturgies with us, fellow
travelers on the road to eternity. He is
in the stranger who has a need that we can help fulfill. And
don’t forget to look in the mirror; for
you will see Him there.
Second, Advent reminds us of the
last days, when the world will be completely transformed into the New
Jerusalem, when all who have died will be resurrected to eternal life. The world as we know it will be gone,
replaced by an existence of everlasting glory, where love will finally be
absolute and unchanging and unconditional.
Again, from the introduction, “Just as Christ came at Bethlehem and now
lives in us, He will come again in the fullness of time when He will judge the
living and the dead.”
So it is that Advent becomes a time
of waiting, a time of expectation. We
are cloaked in purple for three weeks (wearing rose on the 3rd
Sunday in joyful anticipation that the time is near), more for introspection
and resolution than for penance. If we
can see the purple for what it is, the royal purple of kingship, we will be
able to look within ourselves to see whether or not we are truly ready – even
truly deserving – of the King who is to come.
We will have the opportunity to guide our lives along the right path,
hearing the voice of one crying out in
the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.”
&
In
the midst of the Advent season, on December 8, we have the opportunity to
celebrate one of the most profound doctrines of our Catholic faith, the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation. (Note that it celebrates the conception of
Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, not the conception of Jesus. Mary was conceived without original sin, a
privilege accorded her in preparation for her willing acceptance of being the
Mother of God.) In all three years of
the liturgical cycle, the Gospel is the same – Luke’s story of the Annunciation
(which this year will be repeated on the 4th Sunday of Advent). While it may seem unusual to “break into” a
specific liturgical season, changing from purple to white, there is a distinct
connection between the two. As Advent
prepares us for the coming of Christ, the Annunciation is the very moment that
sparks the purpose for Advent. It is in Mary’s
free assent to the message brought by the angel Gabriel that God becomes
Immanuel, God with us. It is by Mary’s
declaration, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word”,
that God became incarnate in the Person of Christ.
It should be noted that this
solemnity is the patronal feast day of the United States of America.
