Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 14 December 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Advent waiting and reflection is a Christian practice of preparing for Christ’s coming by actively waiting with hope, peace, joy, and love, focusing on both the historical birth of Jesus (Christmas) and his future return. It is a movement from “something to something more” by finding God’s presence in the “not yet” through prayer, stillness, and awareness of his signs in our lives, even amid personal longing and uncertainty. It’s a disciplined, active anticipation, not passive waiting, that slows life down to notice the miraculous in the ordinary and embrace the “already and not yet” of God’s kingdom.

Henri Nouwen says Advent is not like waiting for a bus to arrive. Rather, “it is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the full, in order to find there the signs of the One we are waiting for.”

It was not always so. The history of the season is a wonderful study in the evolution of liturgy in service to the life of the Church.

When I teach classes on the liturgical year, my first question usually is, “What was the first and most important liturgical celebration of the Church?” Usually people get this one. Easter. Without the resurrection of Jesus, there would be no point to anything else.

“What is the second most important?” This is a trick question of sorts because people always say Christmas. Actually the second most important feast in the Church is called “Sunday.” What Easter is to the year, Sunday is to the week.

Christmas was first formally recorded as December 25, 336AD in the Roman Empire, although local observances might have begun as early as the second century, with traditions evolving from pagan winter festivals, a gradual development until formally proclaimed in the fourth century. The celebration of Christ’s birth formerly was observed at Epiphany, not his birth itself, but his being made known to the Gentiles, us.

In the beginning, everything was about Jesus’ resurrection! And truly, that is all we need. But we love to contextualize all the things we know about Jesus’ life and work throughout the year.

What is today celebrated as the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday/Easter Vigil) has always been a linear observance of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. It was also the time of the catechumenate, the time when people prayed and discerned the desire to be baptized. Imagine - only three days. Adults became convinced of this desire, and after baptism learned all they needed to know to be Christian.

With Easter on the calendar, the Church then observed Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Church was born. It coincided with the Jewish grain harvest festival Shavuot, or Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover. It was nine days before Pentecost that Jesus ascended into heaven, and the original novena of Pentecost was observed as the Apostles, at Jesus’ instruction prayed to learn what to do after Jesus ascended.

The 40 days resulting resonated with the Tradition: Israel’s wandering for 40 years in the desert, Jesus’ 40 days in the desert after his baptism preparing for public life, 40 days of Noah’s flood, Nineveh’s 40 days of repentance. Lent’s 40 days represent a significant period of preparation and transformation.

When Christianity became legal by the emperor Constantine in 313AD, so many more people sought baptism that a second baptism celebration came to be practiced at Epiphany, the other major feast at the time, requiring a second period for the catechumenate. At first, it was another 40 days of fasting and prayer called “St. Martin’s Lent” beginning on the feast of St. Martin, Nov. 11. By the 6th century, it became linked to the coming of Christ, initially focusing on his second coming (remember, the Feast of Christ the King wasn’t established until the 20th century by Pope Pius XI). Over time, the focus shifted to encompass the anticipation of both Christ’s first coming (birth) and his final return, becoming the four-week season of preparation we know today. The word “Advent” itself means the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. It was formalized to four Sundays in Rome in the ninth century.

The Lord be with you,