A WIDER PERSPECTIVE ON ADVENT

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I love Advent. In the monastery we mark the season with beautiful hymns, new psalm tones for singing Vespers, special antiphons that reflect the words of the prophets or psalm verses that foretell the coming of a new King. Of course, we share with the wider church the special readings at mass, the liturgical color of violet or blue, and a family Advent wreath in the refectory.

In most ways we monks are insulated from the craziness of the exhausting pre-Christmas rush, and

ADVENT IN AMERICA

can enjoy the season as one of quiet preparation. Jealous? I'd like to offer you two links to brief articles that might help you to use Advent as an antidote of pre-Christmas craziness. 

First, though, a note or two. It seems that Advent was first celebrated in Europe around the time that St. Benedict was born in 480. At that time any big feast was preceded by a day of fast and abstinence on the principle of "fast then feast" that makes the feast more special by contrast with the fasting that preceded it. You can see the remnants of this in certain cultures' traditions that observe meatless Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. In many Eastern churches the forty days before Christmas are still preceded by a "Nativity Fast" of forty days before Christmas, although the Roman Church has pretty much lost the fasting dimension of Advent. 

So, to what extent should we consider Advent as a "Little Lent?" Good question. As you look at the two articles that follow, be thinking of how the proper celebration of Advent can help you overcome the craziness that our larger culture tries to force on you in the weeks before Christmas.

First, here's a helpful article on the difference between Lent and Advent.

I found this second essay provocative, and you may even find in it some practical suggestions as the writer addresses Advent as the "season of forgotten penitence."

COME, LORD JESUS!