Season of Advent

Advent, before Christmas, is the moment in which the faithful await the arrival of the Savior

“To everything there is a time for every thing there is a moment beneath the sky: love, time to hate; times of war and times of peace. “

Advent is a time of hope for creating in us a great expectations: expecting Jesus to come.This is the great sign of the first time of the liturgical year, the time of hope, the promise of peace.

Viva o Advento como um tempo de espera e esperançaPhoto: Yamin/cancaonova.com

The moment before Christmas should be a time of preparation for Christians to live the joy promised. The expectation of recalling a historical fact, that updates every December, becoming a motivation for a decision: live the Season of Advent as an opportunity to repent of our sins and promote, through our attitudes, signs that characterize the time to love, to be fraternal and live the culture of peace.

What is the season of advent?

The season of advent is characteristic of the West, which could be understood as the coming of Jesus between the men and the coming of the end times: Jesus who comes to be beginning, middle and end. Hence, the Advent is characterized as wait and hope.It is this  Christian mysticism from the principle and the end in which we dive deep into the liturgy. As a bride adorns and prepares for arrival of the groom, the beloved, we too are called upon, at this time, to do the same.

What would be so that preparation?

The recognition of the embellishments that lacked during the past year. The garnish of forgiveness, of discernment, of joy, of humility, of reconciliation and of tireless work for little ones; the time of biblical reading, payment of tithing and many other ornaments that we approach the season of advent consciously the option that we did through Jesus Christ.

The Church, in his Holy wisdom, allows us an opportunity to conversion through the season of Advent. The four weeks that have passed since Christmas is the time of the renewal of the commitment to accept, definitively, the Savior Jesus who comes celebrating His birth.

Since the centuries IV and VII, advent is lived in various places in the world. It was a time with so much seriousness, that at the end of the 4th century in Gaul – France and Spain, it lasted six weeks with the tradition of fasting, prayer and abstinence. This preparation stretched until the feast of Epiphany. At the end of the 7th century, in Rome, its meaning was broadened, in order that the faithful remember the second coming of the Lord, thus constituting “a missionary character manifested in the Church for the proclamation of the Kingdom and its reception by the heart of man to the glorious manifestation of Christ”.

God is faithful to his promises: the Savior will come. Hence, the cheerful expectation that must be remembered and lived, because what we expect will happen, of course, updated. As a church we wait we cry out: “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus!”

Renew the hopes

The season of advent is a time of hope and renewal of all things, by the awareness of what we’re missing: the liberation of our miseries and weakness. It is time to recognize how we are of God and do not return to vomit or eternal condition sheep diverted.

Happy, because, in the midst of so many tribulations, we choose God as Savior. The advent wreath, only to understand who has access to the liturgy of the Church.

You, dear reader, are invited to allow yourself to be seduced by this time, the lighting of the candle, each week, the advent wreath with its colors interacting concretely with this liturgical moment. Let’s together, vigilant, full of hope, with the House decorated and the redeemed heart, wait for the Lord to come. So, we will live the riches of our Church, understanding the meaning of this time and their symbols: the advent wreath. Symbol, quietly expressing the hope and that invites us to the cheerful vigilance. In addition to the four candles, which, with their colors and lights, symbolizing the light that leads us to salvation in Christ. Let’s celebrate Christmas, happy for the time we brings us to this date.

Judinara Braz

Company Administrator with specialization in Marketing.
Psychologist specializing in behavior analysis.
Author of the book “Sala de Aula, a vida como ela é.”
The Pedagogical Director of John Paul I school-Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil.

Portuguese version