Today marks the first day of Advent and a new cycle of the liturgical year in the Church. Since I’ve just released my Sacred Seasons liturgical wall calendar (take a peek at the Advent page above), I thought this would be a great opportunity to share with you an excerpt from the calendar on the season of Advent. Blessings to you as you enter this season of waiting and longing, keeping vigil as hope draws near.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the season of Advent comes at a time when the earth is dark and dormant.
The last leaves are falling from autumn’s colorful trees as the days grow colder and the nights grow longer, readying the earth and its creatures for a season of stillness and hibernation. This growing darkness pulls us inside our homes as well as inside ourselves, inviting us to examine our places of darkness and longing and to wait with faithfulness, keeping vigil as we hold out hope for the light.
This is where the Church calendar begins—not with the certainty and fulfillment sung by the angels at Christmas time, but rather with the strain that such deep yearning brings. Like Mary pregnant with the Christ child, we start the year not with the joy and relief that comes with birth but in the womb—the mysterious place in which hope is conceived and new life is formed.
