The Season Of Advent - Part 1 of 3

It is the 4-week period that the Church devotes in preparing for Christmas, the coming of Christ. Jesus is always with us and coming to us but still, during this season, we are invited to give the Lord a special gift on His birthday-a renewed person.

Advent is a time of Joy celebrating the coming of the Messiah into the world as human being during the first Christmas. Advent is also the time to remind ourselves that the Lord shall come again to bring and unite all people in God's love. Thus, Advent is the season of joy and hope. And since Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year, it must be time that we resolve to make better our relationship with Jesus.

ADVENTUS is the Latin equivalent of the words "arrival or coming into place".

Advent developed in the west specifically in the churches of Saragossa in Spain, in Tours, Gaul (now France) and in Ravenna, Milan and Rome in Italy. Advent was the time that we recall the first coming of Jesus in his incarnation. In Gaul, it broadened and came to include also the second coming of Christ at the end of time.

In the early Middle Ages, a penitential tone became a characteristic feature of Advent partly due to the expectation of his second coming. Penance was necessary to help us prepare to face the judge on our judgment day. This development happened because Advent was seen in parallel with Lent which is also a penitential season and a time of preparation for the great feast of Easter. Also in the Middle Ages, Advent was considered the beginning of the Year because the texts of this season were placed in the beginning of the Liturgical books.