Donna M. Cole

Cross and cradle

Advent was once my least favorite season. It seemed a dreary time that seemed to transition poorly into the Christmas season. Despite all the formational work about the unity of the Advent–Christmas season and the care taken to preserve the unique identity of Advent, it never seemed to quite work. Over time, though, efforts to preserve stillness and calm while the “outside” world was all about shopping and carols and Santa Claus began to make a difference. Still, we talk about all the wonderful imagery of darkness and light and of the dynamic tension of the season, but plain old, ordinary tension is what we often get. All of those ideals are wonderful, and I will teach and preach about the depth and richness of our ritual tradition until I draw my last breath, but I’m done taking a stand about things that don’t matter all that much. Purple or blue for Advent? No more fights about that. Let’s just use a rich, deep color that’s distinctive from that of Lent. (I draw the line at red for Christmas, though!) Where do we put the Advent wreath? It seems every parish has a migratory pattern for that. So long as it does not obstruct ritual action, I’m not arguing about that either. It can join the nativity scene in the hunt for the perfect location.

Hearing Christmas carols in October grates on me. I had lunch in early fall one year with a friend and colleague, a fine liturgist and preacher. The restaurant played nonstop carols. When we left, I asked her if the choice of music bugged her at all. She looked at me as if I’d asked her if she believed in the real presence and said, “It’s not even Advent, and we are not Ho-ho-ho-ing yet!” I treasure that moment because it reminds me of who we’re called to be. It’s true that we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas in Advent. But we can do things that point to Christmas, especially all things that connect the paschal mystery to the incarnation. Let’s not be so rigid in our observance of Advent that our Christian witness in this season is lost to the world. If our homes are dark and our voices silent in Advent, what message do we offer a world nearly lost in a darkness of a different kind?

This issue of ML focuses on the Advent–Christmas season, offering some perspectives on the season with an emphasis on Advent. Tom Iwanowskishares some of the ways to experience Advent in the present time. While Advent by nature looks backward to the birth of Christ and forward to the return of the Lord, we are called to be ever mindful of the ways that God is present to us each day. Jean Marie DuHamel addresses the conflict between the secular and sacred celebrations of the season by using a model of consonant and dissonant tones. She suggests that it is up to us to find our own harmony in the discord that is simply a part of life. Ron Raab proposes that Advent teaches us how to live. To help us do that, he provides a retreat resource designed to be used at home during the course of the season. On a pragmatic note, Anne Louise Bannon considers the quality and substance of the bread and wine we use in our sacramental celebrations. The beginning of a new liturgical year is a good time to renew our mindfulness about the eucharistic meal.

Advent is no longer my least favorite season. Letting go of the struggle over trivialities frees us to live the days of Advent intimately connected to both cross and cradle. Let’s cast off the deeds of darkness that come from needless conflict and put on instead the Advent armor of light. ML

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