Advent is necessary

Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

By the closing week of November (immediately after Deepavali), any sense of Advent waiting has already been eclipsed by Santa Claus and his reindeers in the lobby, Winter Wonderland scenes dominating atria, the Tannenbaum in every corner and the list of Christmas parties invitations you’ve received. I guess many would wish they could fast forward the entire Advent season, so that we can get to the most exciting part of the month of December – Christmas! If people could have their way, many would regard Advent as unnecessary, a mere inconvenience at the least or a major wet-blanket stifling the festive mood of the season at worst. 

Why this loss of Advent as a distinct season of the Christian year? Why is Advent seen as an awkward intrusion? Perhaps it’s because, for many Catholics, our calendars are dominated not by the venerable rhythms of sacred time announcing humanity’s redemption but by the swifter currents of consumerism and efficiency. The microwave saves us from waiting for a meal to simmer on the stove, fast lanes save us the trouble of waiting in long queues to pay for our purchase, and this backward extension of the Christmas season liberates us from having to deal with Advent, that awkward season of waiting.  And so, before the last fireworks were set ablaze and Deepavali decorations returned to the warehouse, halls and malls are decked with plastic holly, crimson ribbons and fake snow. Immediate gratification has become the ultimate goal of modern man’s pursuit for happiness. The reason why Advent is ignored and so unpopular is because the season applies the brakes to the seemingly unstoppable momentum of immediate gratification. Whilst technology seems to affirm the world’s judgment that waiting is bad, the Church, through its celebration of Advent counters with this message – waiting is sacred! Advent is a proclamation of the Gospel through the discipline of waiting.

There is something penitential about the nature of sacred waiting, since penance is either the denial or the postponement of gratification not for its own sake but in order that a person may open himself unselfishly to God. One of the most important aspects of the season of Advent is its penitential character, something which is often ignored. But if we pay attention to the little details of our Liturgy, we would come to recognise this. We recognise it in the form of the purple (it’s violet) coloured vestments the priests wears, reminiscent of funerals and the sister season of Lent.  The Gloria is silenced and suppressed only to be sung once again at Christmas, as if its absence will make the heart so much fonder to worship God with the song of the angels announcing the birth of his Son in Bethlehem. We see it in the toned down floral decorations, the discouragement of festive celebrations, including marriages (although the Church does allow weddings during the seasons of Lent and Advent, priests are under an obligation to catechise the couples on the proper penitential nature of the seasons). And of course in KL archdiocese, priests make their rounds hearing confessions at penitential services celebrated in different parishes. Finally, we see it most clearly in the readings of today; readings that speak of penance and repentance in preparation for the Coming of the Lord.

The gospel of St Luke introduces the epitome of penance, St John the Baptist, who articulated this not only in his message but also in his lifestyle. In today’s gospel, we hear him preaching the message of repentance and promoting a baptism for the forgiveness of sin as preparation for the Coming of the Messiah. It is important for us to understand why this was an important part of the preparation. Sin is an obstacle to the action of God in a person’s life because it blocks God’s grace. As St Paul tells us in the second reading, our Christian goal is to “become pure and blameless, and prepare ourselves for the Day of Christ, when (we) will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.”  The obstacle of sin must therefore be removed in order that we may attain this lofty goal. The removal of obstacles is dramatically and symbolically described in the prophecy of Isaiah as a massive engineering work, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth…”  In other words, repentance and conversion cannot just be a superficial performance of penances. What is more important is the inner conversion which opens us to the life of grace. 

There seems to be less and less stress on sacrifice and penance. Rather, instant gratification seems to be the flavour of our times. The theme of waiting and the penitential character of the season of Advent should be restored in order that the necessary correction be made in our orientation to prepare for the two comings envisaged by Advent, the first Coming at Christmas and the second Coming at the end of time. Sacrifice corrects our orientation and directs us to worship God and not self. 

The waiting that comes with Advent and the call to penance should never be understood as taking the fun out of Christmas. Merely, lighting a few pink and purple candles will not, in and of themselves, trigger a renaissance of patience or a yearning for the presence of Christ. Neither am I suggesting that you should dismantle your Christmas trees and mute every carol until Christmas morning. But the message of Advent must not be lost in our preoccupation with the accoutrements of Christmas. We are called to wait. We are called to repentance. We are called to conversion. And there is no contradiction between waiting and repentance that forms the basis of our Advent observation and the joy of the Christmas celebration. In fact, the former heightens and deepens the experience of the latter. When we do away with the necessary spiritual preparations of waiting and repentance, and replace it with an extended version of Xmas, we are dooming ourselves to an emotional and spiritual anti-climax, a big let-down after all the festive hype and carolling, and Christmas parties that precede the actual celebration of Christ’s birth. Let us pause in order that we may take in the full view and have time to reflect, recall our sins and remove the obstacles that prevent us from meeting the Lord. Let us pause that we may savour the beauty and flavour of Advent. Let us pause that we may join our longing with that of Christians of every age who desire to see the salvation of the Lord.