I grew up in a church that didn't keep the liturgical year at all. We celebrated Christmas and Easter, of course, but I didn't even really know anything about the holy seasons. My sister's Methodist friend taught her about Lent so she and I sort of began keeping that season but mostly because we thought it was cool and un-Baptist.
I didn't know Advent existed until I came to college. I had settled into a Baptist church in Fuquay-Varina and it was there that I first glimpsed the mysterious Advent wreath and candles. It took a little research before either of these seasons meant anything real to me.
It may be because I came to it later in life, but I love Advent and Lent. It makes Christmas and Easter so much more significant to come to the season with a prepared heart. It does me good.
I was reading this morning on a blog I enjoy,
The Website of Unknowing. It's good stuff. In his most recent post, Carl writes about celebrating Christmas and Easter everyday. He begins by explaining how for monks, each day should be Lent. He writes:
"So if we are called to a continual lent in preparation of that ever-present Easter, ought not we see our lives as a time of continual advent, in watchful waiting for that ever-present Christmas? If every day is a day when the hope and love of Christ can be born anew in the hearts of those who love him, then every day is a time of expectancy and of hope. And jsut as the church commends to us advent as a time of contemplation and, yes, of joyful penitence, so we can join the monks in their continual lent by making every day of our lives a continual advent.
Let us join together, in watching and waiting for the coming of God. Let us join together in turning back to God. Let us celebrate the ever-new ways we give birth to the Divine Image in our lives, every day. And let us celebrate all the ways in which that same Divine Image breathes new life in us and through us."
Let it be so.
*Icon is "Our Lady of the Sign" and is the official icon of the archdiocese of Denver, CO.
