ADVENT

Advent (from the Latin Adventus: "arrival", from the verb Advenire: "to arrive at") is the first time of the liturgical year and corresponds to the 4 weeks before Christmas. For Christians, it is a time of preparation and joy, of expectation, where the faithful, waiting for the Birth of Jesus Christ, live repentance  and promote fraternity and peace.

The first reference to the "Advent Season" is found in the Iberian Peninsula, when in the year 380, the Synod of Zaragoza prescribed a three-week preparation for the Epiphany, the date on which, in the past, Christmas was also celebrated.

There are reports that Advent began to be celebrated between the 4th and 7th centuries  in various parts of the world, in preparation for the feast of Christmas.

At the end of the 4th century, in Gaul (present-day France) and in the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Portugal and Spain), it had an ascetic character  with fasting, abstinence and lasting 6 weeks as in Lent (it was the so-called Lent of St. Martin). This ascetic character for the preparation of Christmas was also due to the preparation of catechumens for baptism on the feast of the Epiphany.

The missionary character of Advent is manifested in the Church by the proclamation of the Kingdom. The figures of John the Baptist and Mary are concrete examples of the missionary life of every Christian, both preparing the way of the Lord and bringing Christ to all.

Advent is also a propitious time for conversion, prayer and the study of the Word.

Advent is also an essentially Marian time. For this reason, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) is celebrated in the "center" of Advent, thus constituting a form of preparation for Christmas. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the one who is united to the Son of God by a close and indissoluble bond and, therefore, without original sin. With her "Fiat", Mary lives her silence in listening to God himself who comes: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your Word!" 

Let us ask Our Lady, Mother of God, to walk with us in Advent. May she always be the model of those who await the coming of the Lord, because we recognize our human frailty and are in need of God. Like Mary, let us always be committed and collaborators with God's work and learn to live in Christ and to proclaim him to all.