The secular world started pushing the Christmas season weeks ago, advertising Black Friday sales and stocking stores with Christmas goods. But Catholics are just starting a different celebration that precedes Christmas. This weekend the Church begins the season of Advent.
Local Catholics suggest ways to celebrate Advent, sharing things they do.
“Advent is its own distinct season,” explained Msgr. Robert K. Johnson, pastor of Holy Family and St. Stephen parishes in Worcester and past director the diocesan Office for Divine Worship. “The culture moves from Halloween to Christmas very quickly. The Church provides us with this season of Advent. … We look back to remember the coming of Christ in history … but we also look forward to the coming of Christ at the end of time. “
During Advent, Catholics hear about Christ’s precursor, John the Baptist.
“We look to him and his words: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’” Msgr. Johnson said. “He … helps us to see Advent as a time of preparation.”
“Advent is a time of waiting,” noted Msgr. James P. Moroney, director of the Divine Worship office and pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster. “Just as the prophets awaited the coming of the Messiah, so we wait for Jesus to come in glory at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. In the meantime, we pray that the Christ who was born in a manger … will be born in our hearts.
“In a certain sense, then, Advent is the time we spend preparing our hearts to receive Jesus at Christmas. We do that by going to confession, performing acts of charity, going to Mass … and prayer.”
During Advent, the Blessed Mother is remembered as preparing for Jesus. In the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, from her apparitions to St. Juan Diego in Mexico, she is pregnant, awaiting Jesus’ birth, Msgr. Johnson noted. Hispanics are celebrating her Dec. 12 feast day at St. Stephen’s with Mañanitas – Masses at 5:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., with the sharing of food and wearing of traditional dress, he said.
St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough was schooled in waiting by Msgr. Michael G. Foley, pastor from 2007-2021, said Maria Gasser, secretary.
“He was really about celebrating Advent, to get into the prayerfulness and preparing,” she said. The parish had an Advent penance service, as it does this Dec. 14 with the new pastor, Father Diego A. Buritica.
Msgr. Foley loved parties, but saved them for Christmas season, Mrs. Gasser said.
“We never could have a staff Christmas party (during) Advent because he didn’t want to do anything to rush the (Christmas) season,” she explained. “We had our Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve,” not earlier. Concerts during Advent were to feature songs of Advent, not Christmas.
An exception was a Christmas party St. Luke’s hosted during Advent for a local group home, Mrs. Gasser said; “it was something that the (residents) really looked forward to.”
She said the parish also participates in an interfaith Giving Tree program during Advent to collect gifts for those in need.
St. Luke’s also has its “Christmas Memorial Service” for the bereaved, scheduled for Dec. 21.
“It’s to reach out to families that are hurting at that time of the year,” Mrs. Gasser explained.
Mary Jo Kriz, religious education coordinator at St. Joseph the Good Provider Parish in Berlin, also employs prayer and outreach.
“I love Advent!” she enthused. “It’s just a beautiful, quiet time. The Lord always brings some kind of a theme to me.”
She said her Lectio Divina prayer and Scripture-sharing group will ponder seasonal Sunday Gospels. The 6-7 p.m. Wednesday meetings in the church hall are open to everyone.
For religious education students, Mrs. Kriz employs penance and action.
“You have to do something in order to teach them,” she said. She’s offering an opportunity she used during Lent.
“In order to motivate (students) to answer questions … I give them a ticket,” she explained. “They can save the tickets to get prizes” like candy. During Lent, they gave their tickets back to her and she bought items for the town food pantry with the money saved.
“What I’m trying to teach them is the penitential” nature of Advent, Mrs. Kriz explained. “It’s a lesson in fasting. They were really excited (during Lent) when they saw all the items I could get … that went to the food pantry. … It’s a team effort – ‘See what you can do when you put your resources together!’”
Msgr. Johnson made a similar point.
“We’re preparing for Christmas also by paying attention to the needs of others,” he said, speaking of a parish Giving Tree project.
“Our works of penance prepare us for the feast that is coming, whether it’s Christmas or Easter,” he said, noting that the Church uses purple, a penitential color of preparation, for Advent and Lent. Advent’s purple “mirrors the darkness of the sky” at this time of year, while Lent’s is redder, symbolizing Christ’s Passion.
Msgr. Moroney described it this way: “The whole Church is decorated in the color of the sky just before sunrise, the Advent violet which heralds the coming of Christ on the eastern skies.”
He noted that, traditionally, three candles on the Advent wreath are violet, and one is pink, lit on Gaudete (joyful) Sunday, the third week of Advent. However, four violet or white candles can be used.
The candles “speak to our preparation,” with an additional one lit every week, Msgr. Johnson said. “As we get closer to Christmas, the light increases.” The circular wreath has no beginning or end, like Christ, and is made of evergreens, which last a long time.
“The Advent wreath was a home custom that was brought into the Church,” he said.
Msgr. Moroney said it was a German Lutheran custom that Catholics embraced, and a prayer can be prayed when lighting it.
“I think families should really do the Advent wreath,” Mrs. Kriz said. She said she lays greens around four candlesticks, and decorates this wreath with cinnamon sticks, pinecones and berries. She recommended using with it an Advent reflection booklet found online at allsaintspress.com.
“It’s a wonderful way to mark this season of Advent,” Msgr. Johnson said. “Don’t just ignore it and go on to Christmas.” Since Christmas is on Sunday this year, there are four full weeks of preparation this Advent.
PHOTO Album PAXTON – Jack Bjork and his mother, Danielle Bjork, make an Advent wreath Sunday at St. Columba Parish. Theresa Nummelin, religious education coordinator, taught parishioners how to make the wreaths, which Father David W. Cotter, pastor, blessed. He also distributed Advent booklets to use when lighting the candles at home.