Second Sunday of Advent, Year C
First Reading: Bar 5:1–9
Second Reading: Phil 1:3–6, 8–11
Gospel Reading: Lk 3:1–6

Catholics must “reacquire the consciousness of belonging to a minority” opposed to the spirit of the world, said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, in a 1985 interview. He urged Catholics to “find again the courage of nonconformism, the capacity to oppose many of the trends of the surrounding culture.”

At no time of the year is this advice more appropriate than in the weeks before Christmas.

For the world, these eight weeks—often called the “Christmas season”—are really only the “shopping season.”

While celebrating Christmas by giving gifts requires purchasing or making them ahead of time, Catholics recognize the four weeks before Christmas as the Season of Advent, from the Latin adventus, meaning “a coming, approach, or arrival.”

The one who is coming is Jesus Christ, God the Son made man for our salvation. Accordingly, Advent’s theme is expectancy and preparation. In the first two weeks, the focus is on Christ’s final coming at the end of the world; from Dec. 17 onward, it shifts to the celebration of his birth into humanity.

During Advent, the Church recalls the words of Isaiah and John the Baptist, who prophesied the Messiah’s coming: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” She urges us to do penance, amend our lives, and go to confession. (Many parishes schedule extra times.) Liturgically, the use of the organ is restricted, the Gloria is omitted at Mass, and there are no flowers in the sanctuary.

Instead, most churches display an Advent wreath—a circle of green foliage surrounding four candles, one for each Sunday. Usually, three are purple, and one is rose (the rose candle is lit on the Third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, named for the first word of its Entrance Antiphon: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.”).

Advent is not the time for Christmas parties. Unlike the secular world, the Church waits until Dec. 25 to celebrate Christ’s birth. Then, she celebrates continuously from Christmas Day until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord (this year, Jan. 12). Her mood becomes joyful: the organ is used, the Gloria is sung on Sundays, and the sanctuary is decorated with flowers.

During the Christmas Season, Catholics celebrate the victory heralded by the birth of the Victor as a man among men, a Jew from Israel. Baruch proclaims: “Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height; look toward the east, and see your children gathered from east and west at the word of the Holy One. … God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that comes from him.”

However, preparation for his coming is essential. As John the Baptist proclaimed: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Jesus assured us of his victory at the Last Supper, just hours before his execution. “You will suffer in the world,” he told his apostles, all of whom (except St. John) were martyred. “But take courage! I have overcome the world.”

The secular world, by contrast, reduces Christmas to a nostalgic memory of childhood—a festival of sentimentality. Consider what it calls “Christmas carols”: I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Silver Bells, or Jingle Bells.

This Advent, let us “reacquire the consciousness of belonging to a minority” opposed to the spirit of the world, celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

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Father Hawkswell is again teaching The Catholic Faith in Plain English with fresh insights. The entire course is available in written form and as weekly sessions on YouTube at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. Father is also teaching the course in person:

•    Sundays at 2:00 p.m. at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, 4885 St. John Paul II Way, Vancouver (33rd and Willow).

•    Mondays at 10:00 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Church Hall, 2347 Inglewood Avenue, West Vancouver.

Next week’s topic is “Divine Revelation.”