Last Sunday several people leaving church remarked, “I thought Advent started today.” Even though they were wrong, it was nice to know that some people were thinking about Advent, which so often gets overlooked in the mad rush to Christmas. On the church calendar, the Christmas Season does not begin until the afternoon of Christmas Eve. That fact can easily get buried under the flood of advertisements, promotions, and bargains that try to convince us that every hope and dream can be filled now. Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and Christmas parties are everywhere. Advent, on the other hand, is a season of waiting. It asks us get in touch with our longing for Christ—not only as he came at Christmas, but also as he comes in the events of our daily life and as he will come at the end of time. It asks us to focus not on filling hopes and dreams now, but about holding a place open for Christ. It is not a season of celebration but a season of anticipation. It is a time to get in touch with the sin and darkness within us and the sin and darkness in the world around us. During Advent the Church is telling us to hold back; the rest of the world is saying to go ahead. In a practical sense, what are we supposed to do?

One approach is to fight the culture that ignores Advent. This was the tactic used by my first pastor when I was newly ordained. One of his favorite expressions was, “Let the liturgy teach you.” So, our parish went hard core on Advent. In the parish school during December there were no Christmas trees, no Christmas decorations, and certainly no talk of the pagan Santa.  Parish organizations (of which there were many) were not permitted to hold Christmas celebrations prior to Christmas. Parties could only take place during the twelve days after Christmas. It was a noble effort for one man to take on the world, but it was an effort doomed to failure. As soon as a new pastor was appointed who was not as committed to the strict observance of the liturgical seasons, the Christmas juggernaut came roaring back.

Another approach to Advent is cultural acceptance. We can justify that by saying that all the buying and selling and partying this time of year has an upside. People are thinking kindly toward one another and want to make others happy. Is that not the essence of Christianity? As in so many other ways, the Church is just behind the times and needs to get with it. If we have to listen to gloomy Gospels and put up with dark colors when we come to Church in December, well so be it; but that’s not going to change the way we live our life outside of church.

A final approach and the one I recommend is to see our Advent liturgies and our Advent practices as offering a respite from the commercialism and the partying going on around us. We can take a “time out” from all that whenever we want. Coming to Sunday Mass during Advent is an opportunity to recalibrate and remember what is truly important in the long run. Our Advent Scriptures remind us that we need to do some inner work and not just celebrate. To make room for Christ we have to let go of some of the things that occupy our time and attention. Are we truly longing to know Christ or are we just looking forward to celebrating Christmas?  We can take shorter time-outs by coming to daily Mass once or twice a week. And, for a brief daily time out, we can make a point of looking at our on-line Advent calendar. A sample page is enclosed in this week’s bulletin. The neat thing about our Advent calendar is that it features art as well as words. Some of us are more visual and are moved to prayer and medication by great works of art. This Friday December 8 we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. This Mary-focused feast reminds us that December of all months is truly Mary’s month. She, more than anyone else, was focused on the coming of Christ. We can invite Mary to help guide us in the journey to Christmas. Finally, on the Monday before Christmas, we have two hours of Eucharistic Adoration, followed by a Reconciliation Service. Going to Confession just before Christmas is not only a very old church tradition, but a wonderful way to make room in our life for the coming of Emmanuel, the God who came to earth and lives among us even now and whom we might even encounter in the events of daily life if our attention is not always directed elsewhere.

Well, how come the First Sunday of Advent did not fall on the Sunday after Thanksgiving the way it usually does? Our calendar played a trick on us. Because Christmas falls on a Monday, there are only three weeks to Advent this year. The Fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve. So, if we are going to enter into the spirit of Advent, there is no time to waste.

                                              Fr. Joe