Advent

Advent is the first season of the Catholic liturgical year, a period of approximately four weeks that prepares the faithful for the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. The Roman Calendar, promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI in 1969, fixes the start of Advent on the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew (November 30) and concludes the season at evening prayer on December 24, when the Christmas Vigil begins.¹

The twofold character of Advent

The General Norms for the Liturgical Year identify Advent as a season "of devout and joyful expectation" that prepares the faithful for two distinct comings of Christ. The first part of the season, from the First Sunday of Advent through December 16, directs the meditation of the Church to the second coming of Christ at the end of time. The second part, from December 17 through December 24, focuses the meditation on the imminent celebration of the Nativity at Bethlehem.²

This twofold character distinguishes Advent from a merely sentimental countdown to Christmas. The season is, by liturgical design, an exercise in eschatological hope: the Church's annual rehearsal of her watchful waiting for the consummation of all things in Christ.

The penitential note

Advent is marked by a moderated penitential character. The Gloria is omitted from Sunday and weekday Masses throughout the season (excepting solemnities and feasts), the use of the organ and other instruments is restrained, and the floral decoration of the sanctuary is simplified. The liturgical color is violet, the same color worn during Lent, signifying penance and humility. The exception is the Third Sunday of Advent, traditionally called Gaudete Sunday from the Latin opening word of the entrance antiphon ("Rejoice in the Lord always"); on this Sunday rose vestments may be worn and a more festal note is permitted, as a foretaste of the joy of Christmas.³

The penitential note of Advent is gentler than that of Lent. The Roman tradition has always recognized that the joyful expectation of the Lord's coming animates the season, even when the spiritual tools are those of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

The Sundays of Advent

Each Sunday of Advent has its proper Mass with distinctive readings that build a thematic arc:

• First Sunday: the Gospel reading, drawn from the Synoptic apocalyptic discourse, summons the faithful to vigilance for the second coming of Christ.
• Second Sunday: the figure of Saint John the Baptist appears, calling the people to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.
• Third Sunday (Gaudete): Saint John the Baptist appears again, this time pointing to the One who is to come, with a tone of festal anticipation.
• Fourth Sunday: the Gospel turns to the immediate preparation for the Incarnation, drawing from the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke.

The four-Sunday cycle is therefore a movement from the cosmic horizon of the second coming to the intimate moment of the Annunciation and the Visitation.

The O Antiphons and the final week of Advent

From December 17 through December 23, the Church prays the seven Great Antiphons, known as the O Antiphons from their opening invocation in Latin: O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Iesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium, O Emmanuel. Each antiphon addresses Christ under one of the messianic titles drawn from the prophets and applies that title in petition for His coming. The antiphons are sung at the Magnificat in Vespers and in the Gospel acclamation at Mass during this final week.⁴

The familiar Advent hymn Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (translated as O Come, O Come, Emmanuel) is a versified rendering of the O Antiphons in reverse order. Each verse takes one of the seven titles as its refrain.

Advent customs

Several devotional customs have grown up around the Catholic observance of Advent:

• The Advent wreath: four candles, three violet and one rose (the rose candle lit on Gaudete Sunday), arranged in a circle of evergreens. One candle is lit each Sunday of Advent, with all four lit by the Fourth Sunday. The wreath is a sacramental that may be blessed by a priest or by the head of a household using the rite in the Book of Blessings.
• The Jesse Tree: a tradition of marking each day of Advent with a symbol drawn from the Old Testament narratives leading up to the coming of Christ, named for the genealogical line of Jesse from which the Messiah descends (Isaiah 11:1).
• Saint Nicholas Day (December 6): an optional memorial of the fourth-century Bishop of Myra, observed in many cultures with the giving of small gifts to children.
• Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12): a feast in the United States; an optional memorial in the universal calendar.
• The Las Posadas: a Mexican Catholic Advent custom commemorating the search of Mary and Joseph for lodging in Bethlehem.

Advent and the lay Catholic life

Advent is traditionally observed in the home as well as in the parish. The General Norms encourage the faithful to mark the season with intensified prayer, the praying of the Surrender Novena or the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena, the reception of the sacrament of confession, and the spiritual reading of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. The four weeks of Advent are an opportunity to reset the rhythms of the home before the Christmas season begins.

Sources

Footnotes

1. General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar (issued with the Calendarium Romanum of 1969), nn. 39-42. ↩

2. General Norms, n. 39. ↩

3. General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM, third typical edition, 2002), n. 346. ↩

4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 524, on the Church's annual liturgical reliving of the Advent expectation. ↩