“Advent: ‘Come, Lord'”

Advent: Mary and the Lord’s Expectation in Advent

In the church of the early centuries, the celebration of Easter was dominated by the expectation of the definitive manifestation of the Lord. The Paschal Vigil lasted until high night. Only then could the Eucharistic liturgy begin. Thus, the Risen One appears to his own sacramentally, like the morning sun that symbolically announces an endless day. This expectation of Christ’s second coming was one of the characteristics of ancient Christian religiosity, hence the invocation “Maranatha! Come, Lord” (Rev 22:17, 20).In the ancient pagan conception, divinity was revealed on a specific day of the year, in the temple. Thus, the presence or coming, pronounced in Latin as *adventus*, became the visit of the emperor, his anniversary or feast, celebrated as if it were his return.Christian Advent refers to Christmas and Epiphany, which should be seen together as complementary festivals. The Greek word *epiphania* represents the aspect of manifestation of this coming. These festivals do not have the antiquity or importance of Easter. But when they appeared, in the 4th century, after the Constantinian freedom, they spread rapidly in the West and East, though with different characteristics and sensitivities. In the struggle against Arianism, which denied Jesus’ divine filiation, Christmas became the feast of the dogma of Christ’s divinity, as defined at the Council of Nicaea (325), and its celebration equated to the triumph of orthodoxy.

The Advent, being a Christian word but with pagan origins, initially designated the anniversary of Christ’s birth and his manifestation, his return, or his visit. At first, according to the meaning of the word, Advent did not represent preparation but the feast itself. With this word (adventus Domini), Christmas is designated in the homilies of the Fathers, in the prayers of ancient sacramentaries, and in the earliest Christian calendars.In the liturgical celebration, there are three dimensions of history: the memory of the past, the mystery celebrated in the present, and the anticipation of the future. In this case, the expectation of Christ’s birth, experienced for many years by the people of God, his true birth, or incarnation, and his glorious manifestation at the fulfillment of history (parousia) overlap. It is necessary to highlight this triple dimension of Advent, to avoid the risk of impoverishing its meaning by reducing it to a sentimentalism regarding the birth of the Infant Jesus.Historically, the birth of Jesus would have been prepared from the Old Testament. This celebration achieved a psychological effect that surpassed the Easter festival. The mystery of Christmas required preparation, but it never managed to make this period comparable to the Lenten preparation, with its focus on the joy of Resurrection. Although both are very important celebrations for Christianity, they have different meanings, given the jubilation of Resurrection that permeates Advent.The history of Advent is complex and even obscure, as it does not have a unique place of birth, emerging almost simultaneously with diverse characteristics in each setting. It is impossible to trace its history in the Western Church. However, its eschatological character must be recognized, as it involves the expectation of Christ’s final manifestation. This meaning has been increasingly overshadowed by the growth of the Christmas festival as the birth celebration of Jesus. To recover the eschatological dimension, the liturgical reform established, in the first two weeks, its eschatological aspect. In the following weeks, the natal dimension of the feast, the birth and incarnation of Jesus, and subsequently his manifestation at the Epiphany are celebrated.Thus, it can be stated that the state and situation of Advent are permanent: the Church lives in perpetual Advent until the Lord comes. The Advent mystery coincides with the mystery of history, which reveals God’s judgment upon the world. Indeed, expectation and hope are the distinctive marks of Christian faith. For Adrienne von Speyr, «as time passes, the imminent coming becomes increasingly apparent to the Mother. At the same time, she sees men more clearly in the light of the redemption that is to come. For her, everything the Son will accomplish is already contained within her, and thus she participates very intimately in all that comes. But Mary does not ponder this fact but only what the Son will do. She is merely a starting point that accumulates in view of the donation, which she awaits in the realization of God. And precisely this expectation is her form of participating in the realization.»Therefore, the expectation of the Lord’s coming is solidified as we live it with Mary’s expectant faith, trusting in God’s full realization and manifestation in time.In Advent, Mary is the model of prayerful expectation. To deepen her role in the Advent liturgy, read Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Graduate Program in Mariology.

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