Advent and Christmas

This week we begin a new series of contributions to the newsletter of Our Lady of Pentecost Parish.  Given that we will begin the new liturgical year in a week’s time on the First Sunday of Advent, it is a good time to give some consideration to the first stage of that liturgical year: Advent and Christmas.

Our liturgical year is actually made up of two cycles: the Christmas Cycle (Advent and Christmas) and then the Easter Cycle (Lent and Eastertime).  The rest of the year is filled in by the Ordinary Sundays of the Year.

We do not know the date of Jesus’ birth and it was only in the fourth century that we began to celebrate his birth.  Birth dates were not recorded in the time of Jesus as they are not in many cultures today. 

The date chosen to celebrate his birth was already a date of significance in the world of the time.  The date chosen was that of the winter solstice, that is the shortest day of the year, the day when the light from the sun shone for the shortest time.  But that also meant that from that day on the daylight began to increase.

This was seen as suitably symbolic for the birth of Jesus as he was the new light which came into the world and from his birth onwards, his new light was to increase in our world.  So, there are in fact three different Mass liturgies for Christmas: the first at midnight or its equivalent time of darkness, the second at dawn and the third in the full light of day.  So, in these three different Masses, there is captured the development of the light of Christ coming into the world.  He comes into the darkness, his is the dawning of new light, and his light is like the full light of the sun shining on the world.

Practically speaking, most people do not go to Mass three times at Christmas and so do not get to celebrate these three different Masses.  I suspect the three Masses only happen in monasteries these days. 

It is also notable that the time chosen – the shortest day of the year – was already a pagan feast not only in the Roman Empire but in many ancient societies.  People were already celebrating the shortest day and the expansion of the light which followed it.  This was no accident; it was a deliberate choice because it provided already an established cultural setting as a basis to begin to proclaim Christ as the new light.  For the most part and when possible, the Church did not simply do away with the already existing religiousness of the people but used it to lead them to Christ.

The Advent Wreath also images the light of Christ gradually coming into the world as we light one more candle each Sunday of Advent with the final candle – the Christ candle – being lit at Christmas.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

Published: 22 November 2024