December 5th, 2024
In the wisdom of the Church’s liturgical cycle, which repeats itself over and over annually, Advent offers us a rich spiritual gift. Embracing the informal Benedictine motto “Begin, again,” we are invited this year, once again, to anticipate the coming of Jesus...the birth of Jesus, the Word made Flesh dwelling among us...Christmas, Christ’s Mass. We are invited to prayer, meditation and contemplation of this miracle. We are invited to turn our hearts and minds to the Incarnation, not merely as an event of the past, but to its reality today and for eternity.
The blessings of Advent can be elusive. We can be distracted by the hurly-burly of modern life, the demands of holiday observances and everything else we face daily. Maintaining a spiritual focus can be difficult. Prayer can become something to rush through, meditation and contemplation almost impossible. But if we slow down and seek the quiet of our inner monastery, we can anticipate and then experience—with joy, holiness and hope—the true and timeless meaning of Christmas.
The USCCB tells us that “Advent has a twofold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered, and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ's Second Coming at the end of time.”
This brings up some questions: What are we to do during the time in between the First and Second Coming, when we “are led to look forward”? Are we, in fact, looking forward with joy, or merely peering ahead with anxiety? How do we spend our God-given gift of time? How do we live lives of holiness? How do we embody hope?
Those questions are always timely, but particularly at this moment. We are on the fifth day of a new Church year. Our familiar yet always new liturgical cycle has begun unfolding. We will once again enjoy its rhythm and its repetition. Not rote repetition. Instead, the kind that offers growth, that invites us to go spiritually deeper day by day, season by season, year by year, year after year, in a continuous process of beginning. Always looking forward, always anticipating, always hoping.
To that end, we have special help this new Church year. Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Year, dedicated to the theme of the theological virtue of hope. In Catholic practice, Jubilee Years take place every 25 or 50 years, or under extraordinary circumstances. These years are always full of grace, joy, forgiveness and virtue. For 2025, we are invited to focus on cultivating hope within ourselves and sharing it with others, and perhaps doing so in new ways. Advent is the time to begin.
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It has occurred to me that St. Benedict could have easily directed us to make Advent a “continuous” observance, just as Chapter 49 of the Rule says about Lent. Just as we should always, not just for 40 days, be mindful of sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus—the core of our Christian faith—we should always be celebrating the First Coming of Jesus and anticipating His Second Coming. You’ve heard the term “Easter people”—perhaps we can also be “Advent people.”
Susan Black is an artist, writer, and Benedictine Oblate, living in Aurora, Oregon. You can learn more about her at www.BlackStarStudio.me.