ADVENT SEASON

SCHEDULE OF HCDC MONTHLY MASSES:

December 1, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. - Thursday of the First Week of Advent

December 2, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. - Friday of the First Week of Advent

venue: HCDC Gym

Advent/Christmas Trivia

WHAT IS ADVENT?

Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus,” which means “arrival” or “coming.” It is a period of preparation for the birth of our Lord. It is the first “season” in the liturgical year of the Church. It lasts 4 weeks and is divided into two parts. The first is meant to remind us of the second coming of the Lord. The second part is meant to prepare us for the commemoration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (his first coming). The first Sunday of Advent also marks the beginning of the liturgical year, the Church’s “New Year’s Day,” at which time we change the cycle of readings we are using at Mass.

Advent is a time of joyous anticipation, but also of penance and preparation for the great Christmas feast. The liturgical color of the season is purple, a sign of penance, which is also used during Lent.

WHO ESTABLISHED ADVENT?

Thomas J. Talley, in The Origins of the Liturgical Year, sees the beginning of an advent season in the Fourth Canon of the Council of Saragosa in 380. In 567, the Synod of Tours established a December fast. And in 581 the Council of Macon ordered an advent fast for the laity from the Feast of St. Martin (November 11) to Christmas. This took the name of St. Martin’s Lent.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, lectionaries (books containing the scriptural readings for the Liturgy of the Word) provided for six Sundays in Advent. According to the Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Gregory the Great, who died in 604, was the real architect of the Roman Advent. Gregory fixed the season at four weeks and composed seasonal prayers and antiphons. Gaul (France) enriched the season with eschatological elements. The fusion of the Roman and Gallican observances

returned to Rome by the 12th century and the liturgy of Advent has remained unaltered since then.

Source: www.americancatholic.org