Advent: Difference between revisions
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The readings at the end of [[Ordinary Time]] focus on this second Advent in Glory and reach a climax in the [[Feast of Christ, the King]], the last Sunday of the liturgical cycle. At the end of the Church's [[Liturgical Year]], we look forward to [[The Eschaton|the End of the World]]. | The readings at the end of [[Ordinary Time]] focus on this second Advent in Glory and reach a climax in the [[Feast of Christ, the King]], the last Sunday of the liturgical cycle. At the end of the Church's [[Liturgical Year]], we look forward to [[The Eschaton|the End of the World]]. | ||
== History of Advent == | |||
; [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01165a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia,'' "Advent":] | |||
: A synod held (581) at Mâcon, in Gaul, by its ninth canon orders that from the eleventh of November to the Nativity the Sacrifice be offered according to the Lenten rite on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week. The Gelasian Sacramentary notes five Sundays for the season; these five were reduced to four by Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-85). The collection of homilies of St. Gregory the Great (590-604) begins with a sermon for the second Sunday of Advent. In 650 Advent was celebrated in Spain with five Sundays. Several synods had made laws about fasting to be observed during this time, some beginning with the eleventh of November, others the fifteenth, and others as early as the autumnal equinox. Other synods forbade the celebration of matrimony. In the Greek Church we find no documents for the observance of Advent earlier than the eighth century. St. Theodore the Studite (d. 826), who speaks of the feasts and fasts commonly celebrated by the Greeks, makes no mention of this season. In the eighth century we find it observed not as a liturgical celebration, but as a time of fast and abstinence, from 15 November to the Nativity, which, according to Goar, was later reduced to seven days. But a council of the Ruthenians (1720) ordered the fast according to the old rule from the fifteenth of November. This is the rule with at least some of the Greeks. Similarly, the Ambrosian and the Mozarabic Riterites have no special liturgy for Advent, but only the fast. | |||
; [http://blog.adw.org/2011/12/those-were-the-days-of-giants-a-brief-reflection-on-the-fasting-and-abstinence-that-were-once-common-in-advent-and-lent/ "Those Were the Days of Giants ..."] | |||
: But long gone are the days of a forty day fast beginning on Nov 12. The observances were every bit as strict as Lent. St. Martin’s Feast Day was a day of carnival (which means literally “farewell to meat†(carnis + vale)). In those days the rose vestments of Gaudete were really something to rejoice about, since the fast was relaxed for a day. Then back into the fast until Christmas. Lent too began with Mardi Gras (fat Tuesday), as the last of the fat was used used up and the fast was enjoined beginning the next day. | |||
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent ''Wikipedia,'' "Advent"] | |||
== Links == | == Links == | ||
Revision as of 17:39, 14 December 2011
Advent is from the Latin, "ad" = to, toward + "venire" = "come."
The most common translation into English is "Coming."
Season of the fulfillment of Old Testament expectations--as the Old Testament is interpreted by Christians!
Season of John the Baptist.
It is a season of "memory and hope" (Ratzinger). We remember how the Jews awaited a King who would restore David's dynasty and we hope for Jesus Second Advent in glory to judge the living and the dead, to restore all things and to make all things new. "All will be well, and all manner of things will be well again, I know" (Julian of Norwich).
The Two Advents of Jesus
The readings for the season of Advent operate on two different levels because there are two different comings (advents) of Jesus under consideration.
In Humility and Suffering
The season of Advent recapitulates the history of Israel and Judah (the remnant of Israel) waiting for and looking forward to the Messiah who would recreate the dynasty of King David and fulfill God's covenant with David.
The First Coming (Advent) of Jesus was his birth as a man.
In Glory
It is a dogma of the Church, expressed in the Nicene Creed, that Jesus will "come (advent) again in glory to judge the living and the dead."
The readings at the end of Ordinary Time focus on this second Advent in Glory and reach a climax in the Feast of Christ, the King, the last Sunday of the liturgical cycle. At the end of the Church's Liturgical Year, we look forward to the End of the World.
History of Advent
- A synod held (581) at Mâcon, in Gaul, by its ninth canon orders that from the eleventh of November to the Nativity the Sacrifice be offered according to the Lenten rite on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week. The Gelasian Sacramentary notes five Sundays for the season; these five were reduced to four by Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-85). The collection of homilies of St. Gregory the Great (590-604) begins with a sermon for the second Sunday of Advent. In 650 Advent was celebrated in Spain with five Sundays. Several synods had made laws about fasting to be observed during this time, some beginning with the eleventh of November, others the fifteenth, and others as early as the autumnal equinox. Other synods forbade the celebration of matrimony. In the Greek Church we find no documents for the observance of Advent earlier than the eighth century. St. Theodore the Studite (d. 826), who speaks of the feasts and fasts commonly celebrated by the Greeks, makes no mention of this season. In the eighth century we find it observed not as a liturgical celebration, but as a time of fast and abstinence, from 15 November to the Nativity, which, according to Goar, was later reduced to seven days. But a council of the Ruthenians (1720) ordered the fast according to the old rule from the fifteenth of November. This is the rule with at least some of the Greeks. Similarly, the Ambrosian and the Mozarabic Riterites have no special liturgy for Advent, but only the fast.
- But long gone are the days of a forty day fast beginning on Nov 12. The observances were every bit as strict as Lent. St. Martin’s Feast Day was a day of carnival (which means literally “farewell to meat†(carnis + vale)). In those days the rose vestments of Gaudete were really something to rejoice about, since the fast was relaxed for a day. Then back into the fast until Christmas. Lent too began with Mardi Gras (fat Tuesday), as the last of the fat was used used up and the fast was enjoined beginning the next day.