The Liturgical Season of Advent (2016)

The new liturgical year is upon us. This provides the author with an opportunity to start a series of liturgical reflections on the Liturgical Year and the various liturgical signs and symbols that are present in the Church's liturgy.

The Liturgical Year and the Nativity Cycle 

The Church cannot but boldly proclaim Jesus Christ to the world. She announces a joyful message that Jesus has redeemed the world from sin and death through his own Passion, Death and Resurrection. Every celebration of the Church's liturgy makes this mystery actually present and brings about the salvation of the world in the members of His Body. The Church's liturgy also has cosmic effects:  sanctifying not only creation, but also time as well. The Church's Liturgical Year is the way by which time is sanctified by the celebration of the mysteries of Christ and his redemption of the world.

The Season of Advent begins the Liturgical Year. In addition to being at the start of the Church's year, the season of Advent also begins the "Nativity Cycle" of the Liturgical Year. This cycle includes:

• The Season of Advent - Preparing for the Coming of the Lord.
• The Season of Nativity (Christmas) - Celebrating the Birth of the Lord.
• The Season of Epiphanytide - Celebrating the earthly manifestations of the Lord.

All three parts of the Nativity Cycle point to the same mystery being celebrated by the Church: the Incarnation of the Word of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his manifestations to the world as its savior.

The Meaning of the Term "Advent"

The Latin term adventus (which means "coming" or "arrival"), is used in both the Sacred Scriptures and the Liturgy to signify the Coming of Christ. Adventus is used to translate two Greek words: parousía (which originally indicated the arrival of a deity to its temple or to its people) and epiphánia (which relates to the visible manifestation of a hidden divinity). Both Greek and originally-pagan religious terms are converted and converge into the one Latin word to indicate  the Coming of the Lord. Thus, adventus means both Christ's arrival and his visible appearance.

When the Church speaks about the Coming of the Lord, she usually means it in two ways:

• The First Coming: His taking on Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin, his Birth and first Manifestation to the World; his Baptism and public mission; his Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and the promise of his Return.
• The Second Coming: When the Lord returns at the End of Time, "to judge the living and the dead." This is truly the end of all things, when the Lord will return to create "a new heavens and a new earth" and the eternal liturgy will continue the worship of the Trinity forever.

When the Church celebrates the Season of Advent, she takes into account both comings of Christ. Advent starts with the Second Coming and highlights what will happen at the End of Time, then as Christmas approaches the focus shifts to the First Coming at his Birth.


Brief History of the Liturgical Season of Advent

Advent was one of the last formal liturgical seasons to develop, after Easter (Pascha), Christmas, and Lent (Quadragesima). In many ways, it developed as a period of preparation before the 2nd Great Feast of the Christian Year (Christmas/Ephiphany), and as such, it took on some of the characteristics of the preparation period for the 1st Great Feast of the Christian Year (Easter/Pascha).

• 3rd to 4th C: The term Adventus was a term used to indicating the coming of the Son of God in the midst of humanity, though this did not take on any liturgical expression.
• 4th C: Hilary of Poitiers (in 367, Gaul) and the Council of Zaragoza (in 380, Spain) spoke of a three-week periods of preparation before Epiphany. (Christmas had not yet been fully developed as yet). This period of preparation likely began on December 17. They were also considered primarily ascetic (meaning a period of fasting) rather than liturgical.
• 5th C: Beginning on November 11 (the Feast of St. Martin), the "St. Martin's Fast" was a six-week period of preparation before Christmas. 
• 6th - 13th C: After a period of development and codification of liturgical books during which the term Advent was formally used in the liturgical texts, there were two co-existing periods of preparation before Christmas:
1. A 6-week Advent was attested to by the so-called "Old Gelasian" Sacramentary (GeV), likely used by the presbyters of Rome, and 
2. A 4-week Advent appears in the so-called "Greogiran" or "Hadrianum" Sacramentary (GrH), used by the Bishops of Rome.
• Eventually the 4-week Advent won out throughout the City of Rome and the broader use of the Roman Rite, though a 6-week Advent still survives in the City of Milan and its liturgical Use.

Liturgical Texts related to Advent in the Roman Missal, 3rd Edition

The Season of Advent begins with the celebration of the Second Coming of Christ at the End of Time. Two prayers from the collect (or opening prayer) at Mass will illustrate its theme.

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. (Sunday, Advent I)

Keep us alert, we pray, O Lord our God,
as we await the advent of Christ your Son,
so that, when he comes and knocks,
he may find us watchful in prayer
and exultant in his praise. (Monday, Advent I)

In the first collect, the use of the words "meet your Christ," "at his coming," and "gathered at his right hand" indicate the time both at the end of our lives (at our death) and at the End of Time (during the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment). The phrase "resolve to run forth" alludes to the Pauline enjoiner (1 Cor 9:24) to discipline in the Christian life.

The second prayer references the parables of Jesus and his actions in the Book of Revelation. "Keep us alert ... as we await the advent," alludes to the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25). "When he comes and knocks" is a reference to the Lord, in the Book of Revelation (3:20), who comes unexpectedly, though to dwell with us and dine with us (a Eucharistic reference).

The last days of Advent (from December 17-24) constitute an intensification of the expectation of the Coming of the Lord, particularly at his Nativity. Two additional collects will highlight this intensity.

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who are weighed down from of old
by slavery beneath the yoke of sin,
may be set free by the newness
of the long-awaited Nativity
of your Only Begotten Son. (December 18)

Come quickly, we pray, Lord Jesus,
and do not delay,
that those who trust in your compassion
may find solace and relief in your coming. (December 24)

Notice the shift in tone. The collect for December 18 references the refreshment and forgiveness brought by the Birth of Jesus. Note also the direct reference to the "Nativity" of Christ. Lastly, the collect on the morning of December 24 before the vigil of Christmas begins is quite poignant: "Come quickly... and do not delay!" Its call sums up the entire Season of Advent: on the threshhold of the celebration of Christmas, it is also a call to the Second Coming of Christ, echoed by the last verse of the Bible in the Book of Revelation (22:20).

As we pray the collects of the Mass throughout the entire Season of Advent, we can clearly hear the Church calling the Faithful to prepare for both Comings of Christ, starting with the Second Coming and ending with the First.

Pray and prepare well during this Season of Advent, so that when the Lord Himself appears at his Coming, we might be ready and watchful.


Liturgical Resources and References

Augé, Matias. L'anno Liturgico: E' Christo stesso presente nelle sua Chiesa. Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011.

Nocent, Adrien, ed. "Natale e epifania," in Anamnesis, Vol 6: L'anno Liturgico. Genova: Casa Editrice Marietti, 2015.

Regan, Patrick. Advent to Pentecost: Comparing the Seasons in the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2012.

Talley, Thomas J. The Origins of the Liturgical Year. New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986.