The Advent Experience - something new? Not really. In the Catholic Church Advent is a Season. In the Liturgy of the Church - what we celebrate - when we celebrate - is designated as a Season. In simple terms there are five Seasons - Advent - Christmas - Ordinary Time - Lent - Easter - Ordinary Time. Each Liturgical year begins with Advent. Once each year - at the beginning of the new Liturgical year we are asked to reflect on our lives - what we have done - where we are going - where we hope to be. Advent is a four week period of time to help Catholics seriously reflect on the past year - to prepare for the next year - the Second Coming of Jesus. All of us will meet Jesus at some point in time - at His Second Coming - at our time of death - no way out - at the end of your life you will meet God face to face. All of whom profess in a life after death - pray - hope - that after we die - we continue in another existence in the presence of God. In these special four weeks we focus on ourselves - with the aide of Jesus - we see what the possibilities are for each of us. Unlike Lent - when we tend to focus on our sinfulness - failures - in Advent we focus on our goodness - what we have accomplished - how we have advanced - improved - learned to be more present to God. At the end of these four weeks - as we approach Christmas we then turn our focus on the next Season - The celebration of Our Lord's birth. That Season of Christmas starts immediately at the end of Advent at Christmas Eve and continues until the Baptism of the Lord on February 2nd - 40 days in total.
Making ourselves present to The Lord for these specific four weeks is a gift the Church gives us every year. Time to reflect - pray - meditate - on the greatest gift we ever received - Life - Forgiveness of Sins - Salvation - through the atoning Death of Jesus.
Deacon Dale
