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PDF versionAdvent: A time for coming near
by Richard McBrien on Nov. 30, 2009
The First Sunday of Advent, which we celebrated yesterday, marks the beginning of the church's liturgical year, which, of course, makes no sense to most people who are satisfied that the new year begins Jan. 1.
But that is only the case where the Gregorian calendar, traditionally attributed to Gregory XIII (pope from 1572-85), is normative. In fact, Christians, who had followed the Julian calendar until 1582, used to celebrate New Year's Day on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation.
For the Chinese and other Asian communities, New Year's Day has a changeable date, falling somewhere between January 10 and February 19. This year the Lunar New Year begins on Sunday, February 14.
The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is also a moveable holiday, observed sometime in September or early October. This past fall it was celebrated beginning at sundown on Friday, September 18, and continuing on Saturday, the 19th.
The church's First Sunday of Advent usually occurs in late November, as it did this year, but it can fall as late as Dec. 2. When that happens, as it last did in 2006, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve.
Advent, as this column pointed out in 2006, has never had the same spiritual drawing-power as its sister season of Lent. What both seasons have in common, however, is that they are periods of spiritual preparation for major feasts: Christmas and Easter respectively.
Advent, which is derived from a Latin word which means "a coming toward (or near)," focuses the church's attention on the three comings of Christ: in the past at his birth at Bethlehem, in the present, especially in his presence in the community gathered for the Eucharist and in the sacrament itself, and in the future, at his Second Coming.
We need no special reminder during Advent of the feast that celebrates the Lord's initial coming at Bethlehem. We are given ample advance notice of the approach of Christmas in commercial advertising, which used to begin in earnest after Thanksgiving but now begins after Halloween, in seasonal music on radio and television, and in the multiple lights and decorations that appear on our houses and streets, and in malls and department stores.
We do believe in the Second Coming as well as Christmas, but only notionally, that is, as an idea that has little or no meaningful connection with our everyday experience.
It is the coming of Christ in the present that is the most spiritually engaging of the three comings we celebrate in Advent.
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The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy pointed out that, when Catholics gather for the Eucharist, Christ is present in the worshiping community itself, in the Word that is proclaimed, in the persons of the various ministers, and uniquely in the sacrament of Holy Communion (n. 7).
Christ also comes to us in the present even apart from the Eucharist, through what this column once referred to as "the stable door of ordinary human experience."
Advent is a time, therefore, for redirecting our sense of expectation of the Lord's three comings away from "out there" to "right here."
We are reminded of this in the series of classic questions posed to the Lord in the parable of the sheep and the goats, "When did we see you hungry and feed you...?" (Matthew 25:37).
But Advent also reminds us that we are "coming toward" a richer and fuller future, when Christ will come again to make all things new. Seen from a different angle, there is also a "coming toward" on God's part, which is why our most fitting Advent attitude is one of hopeful expecta-tion.
"The message of Advent," this column previously declared, "is that the blessings of the Kingdom will 'come toward' us only to the extent that we 'come toward' those most in need of our love and support."
For this reason the primary spiritual challenge of the Advent season is to redirect our sense of expectation, particularly of Christ's Second Coming, from "out there" to "right here," in our ordinary daily experience when and where we encounter the neighbor or community of neighbors in need.
Indeed, Christ is to be found more often there, in these ordinary circumstances of life, than in the church's creeds, codes, and cults.
It is a lesson to be learned in Advent this year and every year, when the church bids us to begin anew along the path of Christian discipleship.
© 2009 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Father McBrien, this is a
Father McBrien, this is a very good column. It is amazing the good you are capable of doing when you stay clear of politics. In the "new year' I urge you to stay focused on God and not on partisan politics.
I see Milbo. You are allowed
I see Milbo. You are allowed to inject politics but Father McBrien isn't. You contradict yourself in your own words since advising him to "stay clear of politics" is itself a political statement.
By the way Milbo, wouldn't it be nice if our bishops taught this way instead and stayed "focused on God and not on partisan politics." Let me remind you, Bilbo, most of our bishops are spokesmen for the Republican party. Father McBrien needs no correction, our bishops sure do.
Northcountry1, When the
Northcountry1, When the bishops are speaking for the unborn and when they speak for the sanctity of marriage, and when they speak for the poor and marginalized, they speak for God. Sad that you don't see the difference between moral issues (which the bishops must speak about even if they disappoint you) and political issues (which they should not speak about). Get your facts straight, NorthCountry1!
Oh my, Bilbo. I see I've
Oh my, Bilbo. I see I've awakened you from your comfortable, dogmatic and safe slumbers. Yes, I should get my facts straight. I apologize that I didn't mention that it's been a long time since the bishops spoked for the poor and marginalized. And that's because the Republican party doesn't speak for them--it never has. I'm surprised you didn't mention Father Sirico, the self-styled Catholic spokesman for capitalism who is supported by the far right Bradley Foundation, Exxon Mobil and Philip Morris--none of whom has ever spoken for the poor and the marginalized--just the opposite.
How wonderful, Mil, to find
How wonderful, Mil, to find you do not perceive the following citation from this excellent article political but normative for our Faith:
==============================================
Advent is a time, therefore, for redirecting our sense of expectation of the Lord's three comings away from "out there" to "right here."
We are reminded of this in the series of classic questions posed to the Lord in the parable of the sheep and the goats, "When did we see you hungry and feed you...?" (Matthew 25:37).
But Advent also reminds us that we are "coming toward" a richer and fuller future, when Christ will come again to make all things new. Seen from a different angle, there is also a "coming toward" on God's part, which is why our most fitting Advent attitude is one of hopeful expectation.
"The message of Advent," this column previously declared, "is that the blessings of the Kingdom will 'come toward' us only to the extent that we 'come toward' those most in need of our love and support."
For this reason the primary spiritual challenge of the Advent season is to redirect our sense of expectation, particularly of Christ's Second Coming, from "out there" to "right here," in our ordinary daily experience when and where we encounter the neighbor or community of neighbors in need.
Frere Charles, of course one
Frere Charles, of course one would not take the admonition to feed the poor as a political statement. There are, however, different approaches to do that. One can opt for big and inefficient government or one can opt for the private and efficient private sector. Have a good Advent!
"the private and efficient
"the private and efficient private sector" are the very ones who robbed us all blind since the darkest days of reagan bush!!
thanks for a great laugh, Milbo!
yes, they are VERY efficient at stripping us naked and leaving us to starve, diseased and homeless without jobs, declared illegal, imprisoned like Leonard Peltier in our own land!
very efficient!!
I on the other hand read Matthew 25:41ff and tremble
tremble
"I on the other hand read
"I on the other hand read Matthew 25:41 and tremble"
If you have done all you can to feed the hungry, and clothe the poor then you would have no reason to tremble.
Also relevant to the coming
Also relevant to the coming of Christ is the coming of the immigrant, migrant or refugee, in whom we also meet, repel or ignore Christ. We can welcome a stranger or write a Congress person to keep any out, let some in or let in any who craves a freer, safer or happier life in this country.
The Reverend Father Richard
The Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien, theologian and professor based at the eminently Roman Catholic Notre Dame University and author or editor of several of the standard English language works on Roman Catholicism, writes,
"For this reason the primary spiritual challenge of the Advent season is to redirect our sense of expectation, particularly of Christ's Second Coming, from "out there" to "right here," in our ordinary daily experience when and where we encounter the neighbor or community of neighbors in need. Indeed, Christ is to be found more often there, in these ordinary circumstances of life, than in the church's creeds, codes, and cults."
In other words, dudes, it's the reason for the season. Now let's get busy.
Read this as well, and weep, and work hard for the coming of the Reign of God here and now:
"Christ also comes to us in the present even apart from the Eucharist, through what this column once referred to as "the stable door of ordinary human experience." Advent is a time, therefore, for redirecting our sense of expectation of the Lord's three comings away from "out there" to "right here." We are reminded of this in the series of classic questions posed to the Lord in the parable of the sheep and the goats, "When did we see you hungry and feed you...?" (Matthew 25:37)."
Echoing his earlier column, we here read this urgent reminder: " . . .the blessings of the Kingdom will 'come toward' us only to the extent that we 'come toward' those most in need of our love and support."
Jesus Christ meets us in our feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, receiving the alien, clothing the naked, healing the sick, etc., than in all of our creeds, codes and cults, reformed, rereformed or otherwise.
In this quiet time of Advent, as the Virgin Mother silently awaits the birth of Love, Peace, Nonviolence (having gloriously proclaimed the revolutionary cry, the Magnificat, at the Visitation) let us also wait with Our Lord within, listening most carefully to how we too may feed the hungry and thus bring about His birth into our here and now, today.
And please please please at least let us feed those starving and freezing and ancient Oblate Sisters mentioned recently in Sister Maureen's columns.
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR200911...
"Jesus Christ meets us in our
"Jesus Christ meets us in our feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, receiving the alien, clothing the naked, healing the sick, etc., than in all of our creeds, codes and cults, reformed, rereformed or otherwise"
Dissenters always divorce orthopraxy from orthodoxy. Why not both!
Put first things first, & second things will be done in the spirit of first things(Luke 10:38-42).
Insightful reflections as
Insightful reflections as always Fr. McBrien! :) Christ's coming among us not only effects us in the far off, untouchable, future or in the bygone past, but in the here and now, among all individuals of goodwill!
There are three other ways to
There are three other ways to think of the "advents" or Christ. Aquinas talks about Christ's three-fold birth, which is observed in the three masses of Christmas:
On Christmas Day, however, several masses are said on account of Christ's threefold nativity. Of these the first is His eternal birth, which is hidden in our regard. and therefore one mass is sung in the night, in the "Introit" of which we say: "The Lord said unto Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." The second is His nativity in time, and the spiritual birth, whereby Christ rises "as the day-star in our [Vulgate: 'your'] hearts" (2 Peter 1:19), and on this account the mass is sung at dawn, and in the "Introit" we say: "The light will shine on us today." The third is Christ's temporal and bodily birth, according as He went forth from the virginal womb, becoming visible to us through being clothed with flesh: and on that account the third mass is sung in broad daylight, in the "Introit" of which we say: "A child is born to us." Nevertheless, on the other hand, it can be said that His eternal generation, of itself, is in the full light, and on this account in the gospel of the third mass mention is made of His eternal birth. But regarding His birth in the body, He was literally born during the night, as a sign that He came to the darknesses of our infirmity; hence also in the midnight mass we say the gospel of Christ's nativity in the flesh. (Summa Theologica III:83:2)
Thank you, Father McBrien,
Thank you, Father McBrien, for this wonderful reflection on Advent.
Fr. McBrien, your work is
Fr. McBrien, your work is classic.
The nay-sayers just don't get it.
Because my parish Pastor refuses to have a Bible Study, even though I begged our Pastor for three years running to allow us one....
I was forced to learn a wonderful Advent fact at a recent NONCATHOLIC local Bible Study discussion. I always knew that Luke was the great, classic, Advent gospel. But I never knew before (or maybe I knew but forgot) that the writings of the Gospel of Luke place great emphasis on taa-daa...
ministering to the marginalized and the poor!
So social justice being politically correct for Advent, could lead us to other "shocking types of political subjects" during Advent. It's all good.
I can hear Fr. Edward Hays'
I can hear Fr. Edward Hays' "GREAT AMEN" resounding all around me while and after reading all your comments! God bless us, everyone.
Fr. McBrien, I'm a faithful
Fr. McBrien, I'm a faithful reader of your wonderful columns, so I say this in good will. Could you please add the New Year observances of Muslims to your good list above? I'm surprised, and truthfully, disappointed, at their absence.
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