The Mystery of Advent
November 20th, 2007 by Br. James Brent, O.P.
Every year Christians bemoan how the true meaning of Christmas gets lost from view in our society. In the midst of December’s consumerist frenzy and politically correct greetings, how does one put Christ back in Christmas?
The Church has a powerful response to the secularization of Christmas. The response is Advent.
The Advent season, when lived to its depths, prepares the heart and mind to celebrate Christ at Christmas. The more consciously Christians enter into what Advent offers, the greater will be their Christmas joy.
To assist the Church everywhere in entering into Advent as deeply and as consciously as possible, the Dominican Friars of the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, D.C.) and St. Vincent Ferrer Church and Priory (New York City) are offering a series of articles and videos — titled “The Mystery of Advent” — on the Catholic Exchange website. The series consists of one article and one short video for each week of Advent. The articles will cover the readings and liturgy for each Sunday of Advent, and will appear on the homepage of Catholic Exchange the Thursday before each Sunday. The articles are designed to help one prepare spiritually for the upcoming Sunday Mass. The first article appears on Thursday, November 29. The videos will provide Dominican preaching on the meaning of each Advent week, and will appear each week on the homepage of Catholic Exchange.
We Friars invite everyone to join us this Advent in preparing the way for Christ at Christmas.
