It’s Advent Again — Bah HumbugRead Time 9 min

I’ve not always been a fan of Advent. This may seem odd to read, but the season that marks the beginning of the new liturgical year is filled with pressures because of daily life and maybe even some confusion on how to feel during this holy season of preparation.

Perhaps the season of Advent asks too much of me and can even be a little confusing. Yes, there is that change of color from green to violet. That might be hard to miss. There’s also a wreath with three purple candles and one rose, which is also hard to miss.

Advent as a liturgical season makes kind of a shift halfway through that asks us in the beginning to think about Christ’s Second Coming (and be prepared and excited about it) and then to prepare for Jesus’ birth at Christmas. There’s sure a lot to take in during four short weeks already crammed with parties, emotions and immediate plans for hosting Christmas gatherings.

This includes making time to clean the house, bake cookies, buy presents, make sure everybody’s favorite food is prepared (don’t forget to preorder the Christmas ham and Polish sausage) to make this Christmas “the best Christmas ever.”

A lot.

It’s no wonder why some of us might say, “it’s Advent again; Bah humbug.”

But it is precisely into this mixed-up jumble of our lives, with its disappointments, that our Blessed Lord wishes to enter for our sake. We hear in Preface I of Advent:

For he assumed at his first coming

the lowliness of human flesh,

and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago,

and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,

that, when he comes again in glory and majesty

and all is at last made manifest,

we who watch for that day

may inherit the great promise

in which we now dare to hope.

Maybe Advent can be difficult because we are asked to renew our hope in salvation and all that this means for us as we await the Light of the World to come again. Advent asks more of us in what is an already busy time of year. Perhaps in our lives there are many difficulties, and the world situation prevents us from feeling a whole bunch of hope.

In late Advent (from Dec. 17 to Dec. 24), the Church turns her gaze onto preparing for the graces of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord. We hear in Preface II of Advent:

For all the oracles of the prophets foretold him,

the Virgin Mother longed for him

with love beyond all telling,

John the Baptist sang of his coming

and proclaimed his presence when he came.

It is by his gift that already we rejoice

at the mystery of his Nativity,

so that he may find us watchful in prayer

and exultant in his praise.

These words are a reminder to bring our Blessed Mother into the holy liturgical season of Advent. She can help us prepare to receive our Lord at Christmas and be spiritually prepared for his Second Coming. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the exemplar of prayer. Think of her style of prayer, which prepared her to say “Fiat” and receive our Blessed Lord in her womb, allowed her to nurture the Son of God throughout his life, and gave her the courage to stand at the foot of the cross. She is our mother, too, helping to guide us to God’s Son and with motherly affection telling us to “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5) Consider the Collect from the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mass 2. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Annunciation of the Lord:

O God, who willed that at the message of an Angel

your Word should take flesh

in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

Grant that we who pray to you

and believe her to be truly the Mother of God

may be helped by her interceding before you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

This prayer not only helps us to contemplate the plan of salvation by which our merciful God saves us, but to know we have a powerful Mother interceding for us.

To understand more of Advent, the “Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines” instructs us that Advent is a time of waiting, conversion and hope:

• Waiting: memory of the first, humble coming of the Lord in our mortal flesh; waiting: supplication for his final, glorious coming as Lord of History and universal judge.
• Conversion to the Liturgy of this time often refers quoting the prophets, especially John the Baptist, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)
• Joyful hope that the salvation already accomplished by Christ (cf. Romans 8:24-25) and the reality of grace in the world, will mature and reach their fullness, thereby granting us what is promised by faith, and “we shall become like him for we shall see him as he really is.” (John 3:2)

One way to engage the realities of the liturgical season of Advent is by paying attention to the Advent wreath. The Advent wreath originally developed in Germany in the 16th century. A wreath of evergreens with four candles representing the four weeks of Advent is common in parishes, but maybe this year it can make its way into our homes, too. Don’t worry even about getting the right color candles. In fact, other parts of the world use other colors, e.g., red candles in Germany.

Use the Advent wreath to engage the joyful anticipation that fills the liturgical season of Advent. This way we can beseech our Lord to turn our “Bah Humbug!” into the prayer “Maranatha!” or “Come, Lord Jesus!” Perhaps through the liturgy we can focus on the “comings” of Christ “in history” as a little baby, “in mystery” as we receive him in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar, and “in majesty” at his Second Coming.

Let’s make this Christmas “the best Christmas ever” by entering into all that Advent has to offer.