December 1, 2024 is the First Sunday of Advent as well as the first day of a new liturgical year, Year C. We will hear from Luke’s gospel most of the Sundays during this new liturgical year. Luke’s primary audience was most probably Gentiles, or non-Jews; his primary message was one of God’s acceptance of and salvation for the poor, the outcast or marginalized, and the lowly. You can read about Luke’s gospel at the US Bishops’ website, bit.ly/BishopsLuke. You can also watch two videos about this gospel produced by the Bible Project; Part One: bit.ly/LukePartOne, and Part Two: bit.ly/LukePartTwo.
Let’s talk about Advent. History, Mystery, and Majesty are three words that describe this short church season. By history, we mean that we remember Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, his coming among us, or Incarnation. This is the traditional meaning of Advent, the season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas. Mystery refers to our experience of God’s presence, Emmanuel, with us every day; in the Eucharist at Mass, in our neighbor next door, in the beautiful sunrise or sunset we see. And when we say majesty, we are pointing to Jesus’ coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead; this second coming of Jesus is what we await with joyful hope.
Taking a look at the Advent Sunday readings, we see that the first readings are from four different Old Testament prophets: Jeremiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Micah. These readings point to the glory that will be granted to Jerusalem with the coming of the Messiah. The second readings are from Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and Philippians as well as from the Letter to the Hebrews; we are exhorted to live in the way of love of our neighbor and obedience to God’s will. Finally, the gospel readings orient us to the focal points of our Advent season. They look ahead to the end of time (First Sunday), remind us of the figure of John the Baptist and his role in announcing the kingdom of God (Second and Third Sundays), and ready us for the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ (Fourth Sunday). As always, you can prepare for the Sunday readings at liturgy.slu.edu/.
The Christmas liturgical season is even shorter than that of Advent, lasting but a mere two and a half weeks, Christmas day (December 25) to the Baptism of Jesus (January 12, 2025). During this short time, however, we experience the advent of the Lord in a number of ways. First, we come to know of his presence among us through his birth to Mary, his incarnation, on the first Christmas Day. Next, we realize his manifestation to all the nations in the adoration of the Magi, which we commemorate on the Feast of the Epiphany. Lastly, we hear the words of God the Father, breaking into our world, at the moment of Jesus’ baptism: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
There are three explicit opportunities to celebrate Mary, the mother of God, during these seasons of Advent and Christmas; two of these opportunities are Holy Days of Obligation for us Catholics. The days to remember are the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8, though this year moved to December 9 because of fact that December 8 is the Second Sunday of Advent), the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) and the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God (New Year’s Day, January 1); the two Solemnities are the Holy Days of Obligation. To learn more about these days, and other days on which we memorialize saints, please go to bit.ly/FMSaints.
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