The Advent Journey

BISHOP
KEVIN J.
SWEENEY

On the First Sunday of Advent, together with the whole Church, we begin a new “Liturgical Year.” This year, because Dec. 25 falls on a Monday, the Advent Season will last just three weeks, as the Fourth Sunday of Advent will fall on Dec. 24. So, on Sunday, Dec. 24, it will be Advent in the morning, but, just a few hours later (at approximately 4 p.m.), we will begin the celebration of our Lord’s Birth on “Christmas Eve.”

In the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent (Mk 13:33–27), we heard Jesus tell us (three times) that we should “watch” or “be watchful.” Given the brevity of this year’s Advent Season, one way for us to be “watchful” is to try to make sure that we “make the most” of each day, especially in our spiritual preparation for Christmas. The Church identifies Mary, our Blessed Mother, and St. John the Baptist as the two “central figures” of the Advent Season. We will see (and hear) that in the Gospel Readings for the following Sundays of Advent. On the Second and Third Sundays, we will hear about John the Baptist, and on the Fourth Sunday, we will listen to St. Luke’s well-known account of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26–38) as Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel and told that she has “found favor with God” and will conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the early days of Advent, we celebrate two great “Marian Feasts” that help us in our spiritual preparation for Christmas. I have written before about the significance of these two Feasts that are separated by just three days on the calendar. On Dec. 8, we celebrate the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception. In a column at this time last year, I shared the following quote:

In 1846, the U.S. bishops, meeting in Baltimore, unanimously selected the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, as the country’s patroness, which was approved by Pope Pius IX, who defined the dogma less than a decade later. [in 1854] … Blessed Pius IX’s initiative to define Mary’s perpetual sinlessness was given validity in 1858. That year Mary made a series of apparitions to the young French peasant girl St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes. In the apparitions, Mary identified herself by stating, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

On Dec. 12, we celebrate the “Patroness of the Americas” on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For those of us born and raised in the United States, we may not have had the opportunity to experience “Marian Devotion,” in other countries and cultures. The celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one such opportunity. Because we live in a diocese that is blessed by the presence of many immigrant communities, we have many such opportunities throughout the year. While there is a special love for “La Virgen,” Our Lady of Guadalupe amongst our brothers and sisters from Mexico, many other, especially Spanish-speaking, communities have a special devotion to her as well.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated in many of our parishes, often with a Novena, beginning on Dec. 3, and sometimes with a celebration that begins on the evening of Dec. 11 and continues through the night, culminating with the singing of the “Mananitas” early on the morning of Dec. 12. This year, we are inviting communities and parishioners from all parts of the diocese to come together for a “Diocesan Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe” on Saturday, Dec. 9 with a Mass and procession beginning at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany. All are welcome, and I encourage you to attend if you are able.

There are many, many ways that we can “live” the Season of Advent and spiritually prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus at Christmas. I am working on a “Top Ten List,” but for the moment, I would like to suggest three ways that we can “walk the journey” of Advent together in prayer.

1. Remember that we “journey together” as family. If you do not have a young child in your family who will be participating in a school or parish “Nativity Play” or Christmas concert, I encourage you to find and attend a children’s Christmas play or concert in your parish, school, or somewhere nearby. We should each allow children to “show us the way” to the Christ-child in Bethlehem, allowing their innocence, joy, and enthusiastic expectation to help us have that “child-like” spirit that Jesus says we need in order to get to Heaven. I also encourage parents and grandparents to do some kind of “Advent prayer” together as a family, whether it be one decade of the Rosary each day, reading the Scriptures together, or attending Mass one day during the week in addition to participating in Sunday Eucharist, a retreat day, or other parish prayer service together, it is so important to do some kind of spiritual preparation for Christmas, together, as a family.
2. Let us “journey together” on the “Synodal Way.” If you have not yet had a chance to read the 41-page “Synthesis Report” from the first Assembly of the Synod on Synodality, Advent would be a great time to “listen” to what the Synod delegates are asking us to consider and bring to prayer, leading us to “Conversations in the Spirit.”

1. If you may not have the time (or be inclined) to read the “Synthesis Report,” you can still make the “Synodal Way” part of your Advent prayer and reflection. The word “synod” literally means “journeying together.” As we consider the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and we join together with the whole Church on that spiritual journey, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and our leaders to be attentive and watchful, listening to the ways in which the Lord continues to teach us and call us to holiness as His disciples.

3. The “journey to Bethlehem” leads us to Jesus in this time of “Eucharistic Revival.” As a Church in these United States, our bishops have invited us to participate in a three-year process of “Eucharistic Revival.” Plans and preparations are currently being made for a “Eucharistic Pilgrimage” (journey) to a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July of 2024. The shepherds, wise men, and all those who visited the manger to see the “newborn King” encountered “Emmanuel,” “God with us.” Jesus left us His abiding presence, His Real Presence, in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion, in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Sadly, many of our Catholic brothers and sisters do not appreciate or understand what we believe about the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist. Advent and Christmas are wonderful times and opportunities to invite others to “come Home” to the Eucharist, to Mass. If we can be intentional and prayerful in our Advent preparation, we can contribute to making the “Eucharistic Revival” a reality that can be a great blessing for our Church.

If you have made it to the conclusion of this column, you may feel that the “Advent Journey” is a long and difficult journey. I am grateful for your perseverance! Most importantly, let us pray for one another, for the Church and the world, that our Advent Journey will truly lead us to the Peace and Joy of Christmas.