First Sunday of Advent
April 2, 2025 Column Father De Celles
Season of Advent. Today we begin the season of Advent, in preparation for Christmas. Every year most people forget that the Advent season is primarily about preparing for Christmas, and instead spend these weeks pre-maturely celebrating Christmas, and doing so from a largely secularized perspective. And then when the actual 3-week Christmas Season begins on Christmas Day, they put all the Christmas things away and go on with life!
This pre-mature celebration isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if we see it as part of the strong influence of Christianity on our culture. Many Catholics see people around them start celebrating Christmas, and it’s such a wonderful feast they (Catholics) get all caught up in it.
But it’s not completely harmless. First of all, much of this early celebration is driven not by a Christian culture, but by commercial interests taking advantage of that culture. Sadly, much of this is nothing more than retailers playing on our emotional attachment to Christmas, in order to increase sales. Increasing sales is not a bad thing, but the reduction of Advent to a period of rampant commercialism/materialism/consumerism and emotionalism is a terrible thing. All but forgotten is the spiritual/faith preparation to celebrate the wonder of the birth of the Baby Jesus, our Creator come to redeem us from our sins.
Please don’t let this happen to you this Advent. This is not to say you can’t take part in wholesome “cultural” celebrations, as long as you make sure to also spend time preparing for the celebration of the Day that changed the world forever. Here are some suggestions:
— Catholics always prepare for Holy Days by doing penance. In Advent this shouldn’t take on anything near the severity of Lent, but we should do some small penance every day to remind us that nothing is more than Christ, and that everything we do is for Him.
— Add extra prayers to your daily routine. The Rosary is an excellent addition to our prayers, especially meditating on the Joyful Mysteries, or at least praying one decade every day, meditating on one of the Joyful Mysteries. Maybe you could promise to attend (or lead!) one or more of the Parish Daily Family Rosaries in the Church!
— Reading Scripture is an excellent way to renew your faith in Christ. Perhaps challenge yourself to read one of the Gospels beginning to end in Advent. Or perhaps read short passages daily from the Christmas-related texts: Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2, John 1:1-17.
— Of course, charitable giving is a great way to prepare for the gift of the Baby Jesus. While it is a fine practice to give presents to people we love, it is an even better practice to give to those who do not know us and cannot give anything back to us. So, make sure you make generous charitable gifts—either directly to those in need or to worthy charitable projects/institutions. The parish Giving Tree is one good way to do this, as are some of the special collections.
— Receiving the sacraments is one of the most important things you can do in Advent. Consider coming to Mass and Adoration during the week, and make sure you go to Confession. As always, we will have confessions every weekday evening during Advent, which means confession is available every single day during Advent (except Christmas Eve). Also, we’ve added a 7pm Mass to every weekday during Advent: why not commit to come to at least one (extra) weekday Mass every week of Advent?
— Most importantly, live the life that Christ came to give us: make every day about loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Follow the 10 Commandments, live out the Beatitudes. Forgive others, and be kind, patient, generous, and encouraging. Love one another as Jesus, who out of love for us stripped Himself of the glory of heaven to be born in a cold manger, loves us.
— Also: take part in the many special events and liturgies scheduled in the parish this Advent. Please keep the insert of the Schedule of “Advent & Christmas 2024 Events” from last week’s bulletin somewhere central in your house. In particular, consider:
— Lessons and Carols. Next Sunday, December 8, I invite you to join me, the lectors and the choir for “Lessons & Carols” at 7:00 pm. This is a wonderful program of beautiful Advent music and Scripture readings. Some people think “Lessons” means I’m going to give a lecture or something. Not at all. “Lessons” is simply an old English term for readings from Scripture. By weaving together prophetic readings from the Old Testament and pre-nativity readings from the Gospels, the readers lay out God’s breathtaking plan for the birth of His Divine Son. The choir adds to the atmosphere of joyful expectation by leading us in popular hymns and spreading their vocal wings in leading us in carols and a few more complicated choral pieces—they are AMAZING. And afterwards there will be an opportunity for joyful fellowship at a short reception (with delicious seasonal refreshments). This is really a wonderful evening—you’ll have a great time. Every year the crowd gets bigger because everyone who comes loves it. Please join us.
— “Advent Series.” This year’s 3-part Advent Series on the Thursdays of Advent will be in the form of an “extended homily” given at the Thursday evening (7pm) Mass. By “extended” I mean the homily will be like a longish Sunday homily, about a 15-to-20-minutes. This year my topic will be, “Hope, Joy and Peace.” If that sounds a little like a schmaltzy Christmas card, that’s on purpose. Because most people tend to over sentimentalize the ideas of hope, joy and peace, considering them mainly from a secular perspective. But as Jesus says, “my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” So, get ready to think about what Jesus means by Hope and Joy and Peace, and join us every Thursday during Advent, beginning this Thursday, December 5, at 7pm Mass.
— “Rorate Caeli” Mass. Back by popular demand, Fr. Bergida will celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, December 21 at 6:30 am. This Mass begins just before dawn with only candlelight, according to the ancient Advent custom, with the contrasting light and darkness reminding us of the meaning of Advent and the coming (“adventus”) of the Light of the world. As the Mass proceeds and dawn breaks, the church becomes increasingly brighter with the light of the rising sun, symbolizing the birth of Christ, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Immaculate Conception. Normally the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception falls on December 8. But this year December 8 is the 2nd Sunday of Advent (next Sunday), so the Immaculate Conception is moved to Monday, December 9. The Vatican has clarified that this will be a Holy Day of Obligation. We will have Masses at 6;30am, 8am, Noon, 5pm and 7pm. There is no vigil Mass on Sunday.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles