The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Ash Wednesday and reflected on entering the desert so we could fast and pray with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Now, as we anticipate the arrival of our child Savior, we are reminded that Advent, as a season, is like Lent:
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Isaiah 40:3
As a culture, we are much more excited and enthusiastic for Christmas. A baby is born and a family rejoices. We praise that our God became man to save us from ourselves. What we forget during this time is the Church’s season of Advent also a penitential season — like a mini-Lent, and very parallel in structure. We do not worship Jesus because he visited us in the flesh; we worship Jesus because he became man in order to take away our sins. This rescue mission, silently started in the womb of a perfect woman, takes its final action on the cross on Good Friday through the resurrection of Easter Sunday.
The whole point of Christmas is Easter. There is no reason for Jesus to come to us in this way if he was not going to save us on the Cross and show us who he is at the Resurrection. Advent is a warm-up for the main event of Lent and Easter. We should prepare ourselves now, in the desert, for the coming child just like we will prepare ourselves in Lent for Christ-crucified.
But it doesn’t stop there. While the Cross was God’s finest hour, the story of our salvation doesn’t end on Easter Sunday. Just as Jesus ascended into clouds 40 days after Easter, he will return to us from the clouds at the end of time. In Advent we wait for the Christ-child; in Lent we wait for Christ-crucified; and now “we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13). St. Peter asks: “Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.”
All of our waiting is a time of preparation — of returning to the desert — to find the persons we ought to be so we are ready for the coming of Christ; for he will come to all of us, in death and the Second Coming.
One of my favorite hymns (or chants, really) is Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. The tonality of the chant causes many music directors to schedule it for Lent, but it was actually written for Advent. As a small way to prepare, I ask that you spend some time meditating on these words today (with music if you’re so inclined!) and let them carry you to this great mystery of God-made-man and Savior of the world.
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing is His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
Marissa Meyer is an active cantor within the Diocese of Nashville. She loves her rescue dog Esther (like the queen!) and would appreciate any prayers for her wedding next month! She has been #blessed to work for Every Sacred Sunday since January 2019. Follow her new instagram for updates on an exciting new product for Catholic brides, coming early 2021!