It's Advent. So, I think by the Catechism I'm obliged to make my first post of the holiday season about said holiday season (not really, but it seems fitting right?). Anyway, Advent is the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas and birth of Jesus. Great. What does it mean? I mean, we all know what Lent is. We spend 40 days praying, fasting, and giving alms. We are preparing ourselves for the death on Good Friday and the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We don't sing the alleluia or the gloria. It's a somber time for the church. I get it. But Advent? What do we do? How do we celebrate? I don't know what to do with my hands.
The reason I ask the question is because I didn't grow up in a home that celebrated Advent. Heck, we barely observed Lent, only giving up meat on Friday because, you know, it's what you did...even though we never went to mass. But dog gone it, don't you dare eat that hot dog! (It wasn't really like that. My parents are awesome). But going back to the point, I have never grown up knowing what to do during Advent. All I ever knew was to just try and be as patient as I could before Christmas Eve when I could tear into the mountain of presents that I probably didn't deserve anyway. I did some research and here is my take on Advent.
And what I got was this, "Celebrating Advent typically involves a season of prayer, fasting and repentance..." Wait a minute, isn't that Lent? Advent compares to Lent in the sense that it is a preparatory period. In both seasons, we make a stronger effort for prayer, fasting, and alms giving or repentance. In both seasons, we wait...and we wait...and we wait some more. What's the difference?
Here is the difference, and we have to finish reading the quote to get the whole picture. The sentence finishes "followed by anticipation, hope and joy." I think I get it now. So in Lent we wait all this time without the alleluia, without the gloria, in a time of sadness because we know what comes first...Good Friday, the brutal and humiliating death of Christ. Yeah, we get Easter Sunday a few days later, but we don't have the rising of Christ without His death. We don't get the good without the bad. It's not like that in Advent. In Advent, we wait patiently for only the good. There is no death before the birth of Christ. In fact, in Scripture, you get another birth (John the Baptist) before Jesus, which is great!
So what's the point? Why am I spending time writing about this when the similarities between Lent and Advent are numerous? It's because of the one difference. Jesus is coming! Be happy! When you put that extra 20 minutes into prayer, or give up that mid-day snack, don't do it with a scowl on your face. Do it with a smile and do it with love because the Good Lord is coming and he does not want to see you sad. Jesus wants to see you happy. Like He said in John 10:10, "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." The things that will give you that abundance of life are the very things that we are asked to do during Advent. So perk up and be happy doing it. Your friend is about to come home.
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