Our Journey Through Advent 

by Collen Mayer 

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." – Matthew 3:1-3 

The idea of repentance and conversion was one that was very common to the Jewish people.  Throughout the entire history of Israel, God’s chosen people were continually urged to change their lives and hearts and to turn back to God.  In fact, the message had been preached so many times to them that for many it had grown trite and had lost much of its meaning.  Even though the actual message was the same, somehow what John the Baptist spoke was quite different than any message the Jewish people had ever heard before.  John the Baptist spoke with a sense of urgency that was new to the people.  Suddenly, it was no longer acceptable to wait until tomorrow to change.  For John the Baptist the time to act was now – there was no time left for waiting.  The call was clear – make straight the path of the Lord because he’s coming.  Those who repent and turn back to God will see Jesus when he comes and those who refuse to will be left behind: 

"They were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins... And he said to them ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’” – Matthew 3: 6,11-12 

John the Baptist’s mission was a profound and urgent one – he was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ.  As we move into December and prepare for Christmas and the coming of Jesus, the message of John the Baptist takes on a special sense of urgency for us as well.  In the Catholic Church and in many Protestant churches as well, Christians celebrate a special time of preparation during the month of December called Advent.  Advent is a time of rejoicing but also a time of solemn repentance and conversion, as we prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord and Savior.  The message of Advent is the same message that John the Baptist brought two thousand years ago.  As Christmas approaches we should also feel a special sense of urgency just as the Jews did when John the Baptist preached.  The hope is that the coming of Christ at Christmas time will change our hearts and change our lives, just as it did two-thousand years ago for all those who were touched by the coming of the Christ child.   

As we take a closer look at Advent, let’s first look briefly at the history of the season of Advent in the life of the Church.  We actually cannot be certain when Advent was first introduced into the Church year.  It appears that Christmas was already being celebrated in Antioch on the twenty-fifth of December as early as the end of the second century.  As early as the year 500 A.D. there are homilies attributed to St. Gregory the Great that speak of preparing for Christmas time and the birth of Christ by acts of repentance and fasting, but it appears that at this time there was yet no Advent season in the Church as there is now.  Finally, by the end of the sixth century we have documents mentioning what was then the five Sundays of Advent.  These five Sundays were reduced to four sometime in the eleventh Century.   

This is really all we know about the history of Advent.  It is most likely that the season of Advent gradually came into existence in the Church.  As more and more Christians began to see the importance of a special time to prepare for the celebration of the coming of Christ, the Advent season began to come into the life of the Church.  Throughout the last two thousand years the season of Advent and the liturgy used during the season have gone through many changes, though the season’s meaning and purpose have always remained the same.  Advent always begins with the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle on November 30th and lasts four Sundays.  In the Western churches Advent marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical year.   

Okay, so that’s the history of Advent, but what does Advent really celebrate?  Well, first and foremost the season of Advent is meant to prepare the faithful for Christmas time, the commemoration of the Son of God coming into the world.  It is of utmost importance that we reflect on this fact and try to understand the selfless act of love it took for God Himself to come into the world as a small child.  St. Paul explains it like this in his letter to the Philippians: 

Christ Jesus, who was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself- taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man.  – Philippians 2:6-8 

We’ve heard this so many times that it often loses its meaning.  But in actuality the very notion that the God of the universe would come to Earth as a man, a mere carpenter, and then suffer and die for all of humanity so that each of us may have eternal life is simply unimaginable.  The Son of God who has absolutely everything, all of the heavens and the earth, gave it all up to come to the world to suffer and die for us so we might share in everything that He has.  He emptied himself and took on the life of a servant so we might have an abundant life lived to the fullest.  What a wonderful God we worship!  So primarily this is what we celebrate during Christmas time, and this is what we prepare our hearts for during Advent.   

And yet, it turns out that Advent is even more than just preparing our hearts for Christmas time.  Just as Advent is meant to prepare us for the coming of Christ at Christmas, it is also meant to prepare us for the coming of Jesus at Mass in Holy Communion.  Christmas is a wonderful commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world, but we must not forget that Jesus truly comes to us in a personal encounter every time we go to Mass and receive the sacrament of the Eucharist.  And so if Christ is going to truly come to us, body, blood, soul and divinity in Mass, we must prepare our hearts for such an encounter.  As Catholics one of the ways we do this is by receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) – we repent of our sins and receive God’s forgiveness so we are ready to receive Him in the Eucharist.  Advent reminds us in a special way to prepare for the reception of Christ through Holy Communion by repenting of our sins and turning back to Him. 

Thus, Advent prepares us for the commemoration of the birth of Christ at Christmas time and it prepares us for the personal encounter we have with Christ every time He comes to us through Holy Eucharist.  But just as Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ at Christmas and in Holy Communion, it is also meant to prepare us for meeting Christ at our death and for the final coming of Christ at the end of the world.  Scripture tells us that we all will go through a particular judgment at our death and a general judgment at the end of the world as we go to meet Jesus, and we know that this judgment will be based on the works of love we’ve done and whether we’ve tried to keep God’s commandments by living a good life.  So if we want to be ready to spend eternity with Christ when He comes, we have to get ready now!  We know Christ came into the world at the first Christmas to die for our salvation and we know that He comes to us every time we celebrate Mass through Holy Communion- but ultimately it’s up to us to receive this gift of salvation and to say “Yes” to Him.  And for this reason John the Baptist’s urgent call for the Jews to repent and turn back to God is our call, too.  We must make straight the path of the Lord so he will find us ready when He comes again.  And Scripture tells us that nobody knows when He is coming so we must be constantly ready.  Advent reminds us that the time for conversion and for turning back to God is now.  The message is urgent and the call is clear – we will all be going to see Christ soon and since we don’t know when, we must constantly be preparing for His return by doing acts of love and by turning from our sins.   

In essence, Advent prepares us for three things.  First, it prepares us for Christmas time, the commemoration of the coming of Christ to Earth when the Son of God emptied Himself of everything and became a man so that we might share eternal life forever with Him.  Secondly, it prepares us to receive Christ in the Eucharist every time we celebrate Mass.  And finally, it prepares us for our death and for the final coming of Christ at the end of the world, when we will be judged according to the way we’ve lived our lives.   

But a question still remains:  How are we then to live out the message of Advent in our daily lives?  I have said throughout this discussion that Advent is a time of repentance but also a time of rejoicing.  So for me, living out the message of Advent means living a life of joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ.  What do I mean by this?  I would like to share a brief story that a pastor once shared with me about this kind of joyful anticipation 

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There was once a community of military families living during the time of a major world war.  Each of the mothers of these families had a husband that was currently serving in the war in another country, and had been doing so for several years.  The wives rarely got to communicate with their husbands and there was no end to the war in sight.  Many of the young children in the families wondered if they would ever see their father again.  They lived in constant fear of getting that dreadful phone call that their husbands had been hurt or killed in battle, and many truly doubted whether their husbands would ever come home.   

As the years went on without their husbands, life grew very hard for these families.  There was a constant sense of loneliness in all the daily activities of life.  The wives went on with their chores – they took the kids to school, washed clothes, cooked dinner, but it all seemed empty.  Many wondered how they would ever make it through the next week.  They were torn down and broken, and life simply seemed devoid of all meaning.  Many had given up hope of their husbands ever coming back. 

But then one day something completely unexpected happened.  These families each received a phone call: “Ma’am, your husband received orders that he is to leave the war and return home- he will be home in less than a month.  He wanted me to tell you that he loves you and that he can’t wait to see you again.”   

And with this, everything changed.  The lives of these families were completely transformed.  The mothers now did the chores in complete jubilation – they no longer minded doing the dishes or giving the kids their baths.  Life suddenly took on a whole new sense of meaning.  The kids went to school bragging that their fathers were coming home.  The wives called their friends, neighbors, co-workers- just about anybody they could think of to tell them that their spouse was finally returning.  The news was so great that they couldn’t keep it inside of them.   

What’s important about this story is that for the month after the phone call nothing had really changed in the families’ lives.  They were still going through the same routine they had always gone through; they still had to take care of the kids; they still had to get the chores done.  But to these families everything was different because now they knew their husbands were coming home – their lives were now lived in joyful anticipation as they prepared for the return of their loved ones.  Those that had completely lost all purpose and all reason to live, now had every reason to live – they knew that in a few short weeks they would once again be united with their “bridegroom” – and to these families who loved their husbands and fathers more than anything else in the world, this was something worth waiting for. 

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So what’s the point of this story? As Christians, this is how we are to live – in joyful anticipation of the return of our Bridegroom, Christ.  You see just as the lives of these families were completely transformed by the hope of the return of their husbands, so should our lives be completely transformed by the hope that we have of the coming of Christ.  The hope that we have is so great that just as those wives and children couldn’t stop talking about their husbands and fathers coming home, we shouldn’t be able to stop talking about the wonderful promise we have in Jesus: Christ is coming and He’s coming soon!  We have to live differently than other people who don’t have this hope – we have to live in joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ, and we have to be constantly preparing our lives and our hearts for His return.  This is what being a Christian is all about.   

I know I don’t even need to tell you the end of the story.  The husbands did return home safely and in good health.  The wives ran to greet their husbands and the children jumped up in their fathers’ arms.  There was much laughter and many tears of joy.  The families had made it, and though it never seemed like this day would come, it did, and it was everything they had hoped it would be.  All the waiting and hardships that the wives and children had gone through and all the struggles that the husbands had had out on the battle field were all pale in comparison to the joy that they all felt as they were reunited.   

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this joy is for us as well.  One day we will be reunited with our Father and with our Bridegroom.  Christ will come and He will be worth waiting for.  And on this day for all those who are alive in Christ, “He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more.  For the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).  The call for us now is the call of John the Baptist and the message of Advent – it’s an urgent call and one that simply can’t be ignored: Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His path.  We must make sure we are ready for His coming and for that wonderful day when death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more.  And for now we do wait, but not as people with no hope who have nothing to look forward.  No, we wait in joyful anticipation, as children longing for their home, as brides longing for the return of their bridegroom.  This is the message of Advent.