For everything there is a season…
We have entered the liturgical season of Advent. Many people remain confused about the practice of keeping seasons in the Church. It doesn’t have to be such a perplexing thing, particularly when we consider that the secular calendar changes with seasons (just visit a Hobby Lobby any day of the year and they will help you see what season is approaching by the merchandise they have displayed!). Holy Mother Church tracks time in light of the saving work of Her Lord. She arranges each day, week, month, and season according to the events of the mystery of Christ. As the secular calendar begins the year on January 1, the Church begins the year on the First Sunday of Advent. That’s the liturgical season in which Holy Mother Church anticipates the coming of Her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While the Lord did indeed come as an infant, He declared that He shall come again. So, the liturgical season of Advent is the time which the Catholic Church anticipates the coming (again) of the Lord. It is, to my way of thinking, affirmation of the Lord’s credibility and trustworthiness. Through the ancient prophets, the Lord declared He would come (and He did 2023 years ago in the village of Bethlehem). He has so declared, in the Gospels, to come again. This is why the Catholic Church refers to this time as the season of Advent (from the Latin word advenire—to come). Why should we anticipate the coming of the Lord? And why now? There is an ancient Catholic monastic hymn from around the 8th century in which the monks would sing their anticipation of the coming (again) of the Lord. We call it in English, “O come, O come Emmanuel.” In the lyrics of this great old hymn are contained the mystical natures of the one “who is, and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). I sing it often in Morning Prayer and hum it regularly through this season. I commend this wonderful hymn for your own Advent mediation. Perhaps in this mediation you will come to see what King Solomon is getting at when He says, “For everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
