Advent is the name for the season that precedes Christmas. The meaning of Advent is to be a time of quiet expectation and inner preparation for the coming ("adventus") of the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, the entire historical period preceding the birth of the Christ could be considered to have been a kind of an Advent; that period during which the people of Israel hoped and lost hope, strayed but were chastised, and returned to the path of God, and then strayed again - all the while continuing on that path and "covenantal mission" of awaiting the coming of the Messiah, who would renew not just Israel, but heaven and earth themselves. And the Gentiles, too, even without knowing it, were they not going through a kind of an Advent? Being in the darkness, does one not desire, inherently, the Light? Being deprived of it, does one not thirst, inherently, for the Truth?
Our yearly Advent parallels thus, in a way, the historical period that preceded the birth of the Messiah. We, too, grasp, hope and lose hope, believe and stray from it - and yet, inherently, qua human beings, can not but long and desire for the Truth, the Good, the Light. And, just like the people of Israel, we too are called to make straight our roads, to level our mountains, and thus to prepare the way (in our hearts) for the arrival of the Lord; and to do this every year, as we prepare for the Nativity.
That is the purpose of Advent; but, at the same time, how can Christmas itself have any meaning, without the Advent? The apparently satiated one does not thirst! The apparently satisfied - self-satisfied, or satisfied with the world - does not see the need for renewing heaven and earth. What meaning can the Arrival have, without an Expectation thereof?
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In many places in Europe a tradition of the Advent Calendar developed, as a physical aid and accompaniment during this yearly season of expectation and preparation. Typically, an Advent calendar has a number of "windows," corresponding to the number of days between the beginning of Advent and the Birth of Christ (December 25). Opening each window, one usually finds a treat or a nugget of some sort - maybe a chocolate, maybe a holy image, maybe a quote - all of which are meant to ease one's thirst, a bit, and thus to renew one's strength and perseverance during this time of waiting, expectation and preparation.
What I will propose, then, is a kind of contemplative and meditative, artistic and spiritual, sacred and profane, virtual Advent Calendar - perhaps helping us along the way, and perhaps reflecting (on) our condition as pilgrims on this road of Advent.
Day 1 - First Sunday of Advent
This is the traditional Advent chant, Rorate Caeli, that is sung on the Sundays of Advent (one verse each Sunday). Its refrain expresses, through simple but very poetic imagery, the desire and thirst for the "opening of the skies" and the raining down of the Just who will quench man's infinite thirst (and thirst for the Infinite).
Refrain:
Rorate caeli desuper,
Et nubes pluant justum.
Drop down dew, you heavens, from above
And let the clouds rain the Just One.
Verse One:
Ne irascaris Domine,
Ne ultra memineris iniquitatis:
Ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta:
Sion deserta facta est:
Jerusalem desolata est:
Domus sanctificationis tuae
Et gloriae tuae,
Ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.
Do not be angry, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever:
Behold the Holy City is made a desert,
Zion has been made a desert,
Jerusalem is desolate:
The house of thy holiness and thy glory,
Where our fathers praised thee.
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