The Marian celebrations of Advent

The Marian celebrations of Advent: Mary in the season of waiting

“The faithful, who live in the liturgy the spirit of Advent, considering the ineffable love with which the Virgin Mother awaited the Son, are called to take her as a model and to prepare themselves to go out to meet the Savior who comes, ‘watchful in prayer, exultant in praise’” (Roman Missal, Preface of Advent II).

In what follows, we will understand how the liturgy of Advent unites the messianic hope and the glorious coming of Christ with the memorial of the Virgin Mary, so as to reveal the deeper meaning of the veneration of the Virgin alongside its point of reference, which is Christ.

The Marian feasts throughout the liturgical year take place in successive phases; in Advent, however, we see the events that concern her in a continuous way, events that must be seen as a whole. This is a celebrative fact of great importance.

1. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary: This feast interests us, for its celebration takes place in the season of Advent and pays homage to the purity of Mary, in relation to the apparitions of Lourdes and to the dogmatic definition, that is, as a feast of ideas in itself.

This feast, in the season of waiting, is seen as the mystery of the realization in the Church of that sanctification which in Mary, a virgin without stain or wrinkle (cf. Eph 5:27), was prepared as a worthy dwelling for the Word.

2. The ferias of the greater series (December 17-24): The liturgical books present no special expression to designate the days of the Christmas Advent; they only define this period as the greater ferias. During this period, Mary is spoken of continuously, for it is understood that the mother has a very important role in the birth of the Son.
3. The feria of December 20: The announcement to Mary. Heir to the Wednesday of the December Ember Days, even before the disappearance of the solemnitas dominicae Matris of December 18, it is more than a feria, even one of the greater series. In the Middle Ages, the Mass of that day was called Missa aurea beatae, whereas, in a tenth-century Tuscan missal, it is called salutatio Mariae (this same codex celebrates the archangel Gabriel on December 11). It is the commemoration, in the season of Advent, of the Annunciation that is celebrated on March 25.
4. The feria of December 21: the visit to Elizabeth. It is the feast of the Visitation in the season of Advent, a mystery that is taken up again on May 31. As regards the gospel reading, this feria is the successor of the Friday of the December Ember Days. This readiness of Mary to go out to meet Elizabeth reveals her joy at being filled with the grace of God, full of grace. The sudden journey shows in Mary the image of the Church, loved by and loving God, the bridegroom. This encounter takes place not only between the two mothers, but between the sons. Consequently, John the Baptist is the first among the saints to benefit from the intercession of Mary.
5. The pre-Christmas Marian Sunday (the fourth of Advent): The pre-Christmas Sunday was revised, becoming once again, for the lectionary and the euchological formularies, a major occasion for Marian piety, even if it is not marked by a special name. Like the ferias mentioned above, this Sunday also absorbed the liturgical traditions linked to the December Ember Days: in this way, the events of the infancy Gospels that preceded the birth of the Lord are set within a more organic fabric.
6. For the Marian Masses in the season of Advent: For the occasions of pilgrimage to Marian shrines, local feasts, special celebrations centered on the Virgin, and for Saturday, the missal proposes a formulary proper to Advent, which also serves as a common.

We have spoken a little about the Marian celebrations in the liturgy in the season of Advent, in which, living these celebrations with our gaze directed also toward the mother, we welcome and turn to contemplate the summit of the manifestation of the one for whom we wait and to whom we cry out, “come, Lord”!. However, when we think of the Son, we need to understand that He has a mother. A woman who, by saying yes to the action of God, intervenes for the salvation of humanity, thus becoming from that moment on a link, the intercessor between humanity and Jesus, her son.

“In this remembrance of the flow of all the times of the season of Advent there lies, hidden in the depths, the mystery of Mary: how she bends, submits, follows, understands, obeys, loves. As guests, we are invited to share with her in her hope, founded on her mission and, through her, on the mission of every person who shares the faith. Perhaps there is no better preparation for Christmas than to know that we are included in the prayer of the Mother, included in her certainty, free from all fear and worry, that by the grace of the Son we shall correspond to her waiting, on the day when He came to us” (Adrienne von Speyr).

Let us then ask for the intercession of Mary, so that our living of the season of Advent may allow us to contemplate, on Christmas night, the coming of Jesus into our hearts, while we await his definitive coming.

To understand the Marian celebrations of Advent and the role of Mary in the liturgy, read the apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus of Paul VI, on the Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar.

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