OUR LADY OF LOURDES SEMINARY

ADVENT and CHRISTMAS

A RESEARCH AND REFLECTION PAPER SUBMITTED TO

FR. PAUL VINCENT PERLADO, ofmcap

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

LITURGY1

BY

CARL FRANCIS C. REGUINDIN

SAN SEBASTIAN, LIPA CITY

22 APRIL 2022
 By the mystery of the Incarnation, God broke into cosmic time and human history; God
dwelt as one of us in the cosmic human space, Jesus, the Word made flesh, was born in the
little town of Bethlehem in Judea in the days of King Herod.1 He spent his early years in the
town of Nazareth, where he was subject to his parents. 2 With them, he celebrated the
Jewish festivals.3 He roamed the streets of cities and the countryside of Palestine, climbed
its hills and mountains, and crossed its lake.

I. Preliminaries:

In the book edited by Fr. Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB it is noteworthy to indicate that this
season has a fitting name “The season of the manifestation of the Lord.” 4 There it is stated
that “Guided by the liturgical reforms of the Vatican II, the season of Advent, Christmas, and
Epiphany are now grouped under the title, “The Manifestation of the Lord” (cf. General
Norms, n. 32)5

a. Advent

The Liturgical Church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent. The Season of
Advent has four weeks. During this time the Christian people recall in joyful expectation the
two comings of Jesus Christ into the world.

The first of these coming happened when he became incarnate in the womb of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and was born on Christmas day. The second coming will take place on
the Last Day when he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.

The biblical readings and the prefaces with the Mass initially commemorate the
second coming of Christ and then gradually shift the focus on his first coming by recalling
the roles played by John the Baptist, his precursor, and the Blessed Virgin Marty, his mother.

From December 16, Filipino Catholics intensify their preparation for the birth of our
Lord through the special practice of Simbang Gabi (Nine-day Dawn Masses) whereby they
relive the time when Mary, the Mother of God, awaited the birth of her Son.

b. Christmas

The season of Christmas begins on December 25 and concludes with the feast of
Christ’s Baptism. It celebrated the extraordinary and joyful event when the Son of God was
born of the Blessed Virgin Mary and dwelt among us, becoming like us in all things except
sin. Christmas is the story of God’s humility, of Christ’s descent among us so that on Easter
day we could ascend with Him to His heavenly kingdom.

Several other feasts during the Christmas season relate to the celebration of Christ’s
birth. These are the Holy Family, Mary Mother of God, Epiphany, and Baptism of the Lord. In
the Philippines the national feast of the Sto. Niño is celebrated on the second Sunday in
Ordinary Time. It extends in some special way the joy of Christmas.

II. History

1
Matthew 2:1
2
Luke 2:51
3
Luke 2:41-42
4
Pontifical Liturgical Institute and Anscar J. Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies. Volume V, Liturgical
Time and Space (Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian publication, 2000), 194.
5
Pontifical Liturgical Institute and Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies. Volume V, Liturgical Time and
Space, 194
 a. Advent6

In the West, in a process similar to the celebration of Easter, the celebration of

Christmas developed a period of preparation. The historical process took place differently in
Spain and France than it did in Rome. Two main streams were flowing into it.

First Stream.

The first came out of France, during the fourth century AD, probably from Celtic
monks. A period of about six weeks before Christmas was used as a penitential and
devotional period, a lesser Lent. This paralleled the early medieval Lent, with the use of the
color purple, the dropping of the Gloria and the Alleluia from eucharistic liturgies, and the
dropping of the Te Deum from the liturgy of the hours. The adoption of Celtic penitential
practices and the rising emphasis on judgment at the Parousia color the Gallican season of
Advent, exemplified by the sequence Dies Irae, a hymn composed for the beginning of
Advent.

The designation of December 17-January 6 would coincide with the pagan celebration
of Saturnalia, an event of much concern in later Christian synodical writings. Saturnalia is
revealed in honor of the god Saturnus which originally lasted for seven days and coincided
with the week leading up to Christmas. The beginning of Advent’s core (December 17-
December 24) could be in this case a Christian ascetical practice to counter the ribald pagan
celebration. The Gallican fast, on the other hand, may have found its origins in the Celtic
monastic practice of triannual forty-day fasts, a practice which soon became mandatory for
the laity also. It is said that Francis of Assisi had a special preference for the Gallican liturgy.

The practice may have been influenced by the Eastern Church where from the earliest
times, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week were observed as days of abstinence. Other
days and seasons were added over time. The major Lent goes back to the 2nd century. In the
4th century, it was spoken of as the “holy forty” (days), but at some time and in a certain
place it was a much more extended period. In addition to the great, or major, Lent, three
other “Lents” have been observed in the Eastern Church: the Lent of the holy apostles (June
16-28); Mary’s Lent (August 1-14); and the Lent preceding Christmas (November 15-December
24). These three minor Lents did not become obligatory before the 8th century; their
observance began in the monasteries and spread thence to the faithful. Days observed by
fasting and abstinence have been numerous in the East; in the Greek Church, the total has
been as high as 180 in a year.

Second Stream.

The second stream came from Rome. The origins of Advent seem to be a
combination of Gallican influence and indigenous tradition. There is already evidence of a
pre-Christmas fast at the end of the 4th century in Rome, a fast that may not have any
relation to Christmas. Also related to the time of year but perhaps originally independent of
Christmas are the Ember days, quarterly fast times of recollection. Except for the “feast of
the tenth month” in December, so-called, because in the time of Leo the Great (440-61) the
year began in March, it would seem that the period before Christmas was characterized by
joyful expectancy, white vestments being worn at Mass.

Gregory the Great (late 6th century) witnessed a liturgical tradition of four Sunday
Masses and three Ember Day Masses in preparation for Christmas, which stresses the
coming commemoration rather than the judgment themes seen in the Gallican tradition. In
the 7th century, the composition of the poetic “O Antiphons” exemplifies this preparation
for the solemnity of the nativity, and by the 8th and 9th centuries, the sacramentaries reveal
the position of Advent at the beginning of the church year, replacing Christmas as the head
6
Rañoa, OFM, Andres. 2005. Review of ADVENT and FRANCIS.
of liturgical new year. The liturgical traditionalism of Rome made itself felt in the widespread
adoption of the Roman four-week Advent (replacing the longer Gallican and Spanish
Advents). Amalarius of Metz (780-850), the liturgical scholar, attributed the reduction to
four Sundays to Gregory the Great who preached Advent sermons on these Sundays in the
basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which by then had become the focus of Christmas
observance in Rome. Charlemagne (742-814) adopted the Roman rite for use in his imperial
chapel at Aachen but, as the rite was accepted throughout his realms in the 9th century,
Advent acquired the austerity associated with the Gallican monastic practice, although
discipline was not so severe as in Lent and many sought dispensations from fasting.

By the 12th century, Rome was influenced by the penitential aspects of the Gallican
Advent and dropped the Gloria from the Mass, retaining the Alleluia in contradistinction to
the Gallican Advent. In 1362, Urban V, who even after his election continued to live as a
Benedictine monk, was compelled to insist that the papal court should set a good example
of Advent abstinence!

St. Martin’s Lent

More secure data for Advent as a preparatory fast come from the sixth century. A
synod of Tours in 567 laid out in its canon 17 the fast practice expected of monastics.
Suspended entirely in the seasons of high festivity, fasting was otherwise enjoined on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as normal practice. The specific seasons of intensified
daily fasting were three in number: Lent, the entire week following Pentecost, and the
month of December up to Christmas. This threefold fasting pattern was characteristic of
Irish and British Christianity as early as the middle of the sixth century. Those regulations had
to do only with monastic discipline, but fourteen years later, in 581, the first council of
Mâcon ordered an Advent fast for the laity. From the burial of St Martin until the feast of the
Nativity, fasting was enjoined on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Here, as with the
normal fasting of monks, it is significant that Monday is added to the older weekly station
days, and that there is no sign of fasting on the Sabbath, as was customary in Rome. We
cannot know how widely these regulations were observed, but they represent a point in the
progressive dissemination of what came to be called “St. Martin’s Lent.” Late in the
previous century, St. Gregory of Tours, in his Historia Fracorum, had attributed such a fast
practice to his predecessor, Perpetuus.

The first council of Mâcon ordered that Mass should be celebrated “according to the
quadragesimal (Lenten) rite.” This is the origin of St Martin’s Lent which follows Martinmas,
the date of his burial on November 11, one of his two feast days, the other being July 4, the
anniversary of his consecration as bishop and of the translation of his relics to the new
church dedicated to him in Tours. Martinmas, the traditional time for slaughtering pigs and
salting the meat for winter provisions, thus acquired the festive character of Shrove
Tuesday, the carnival before the austerities of Lent. While fasting on Wednesdays and
Fridays was an ancient Christian tradition (Didache, 1st century), the addition of Monday
appears to mark off the season.

“St. Martin’s Lent” comprises forty-two days. It is not surprising, therefore, that
many of the lectionaries of the seventh and eighth centuries provide for six Sundays of
Advent, although others provide only five. In Milan from the seventh century, there have
been six Sundays of Advent. The last of these has for centuries been celebrated as the feast
of the Annunciation, that day and those of the week following up to Christmas being titled
De except to, a term that seems to be the Milanese equivalent of Annunciation. This, of
course, is the gospel assignment for the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the present Roman
lectionary’s four-Sunday scheme, although it does not replace the festival of March 25,
which usually occurs inappropriately during Lent but is utterly proper in Advent.
 b. Christmas

The oldest written testimony for a Christmas feast on the twenty-fifth of December is
from the Church of Rome and dates back to about 330. In the calendar ascribed to Furius
Dionysius Filocalus, we have two lists (depositions) from the year 336, one with the
anniversaries of the death of the bishops of Rome (deposition Episcoporum), the other one
with the anniversaries of the martyrs (deposition martyrum). In the list of the martyrs, we
find the remark: “VIII Kal. Jan. natus est Christus in Bethlehem Judaeae”7 It is therefore certain
that the birthday of Christ was celebrated in the Church of Rome on the twenty-fifth of
December in 336.8

Why the twenty-fifth of December? The gospels do not give us any indication about
the day on which Christ was born.9 There are various hypotheses.

1. The feast marked the anniversary of the birth of Christ. Even if the actual date of the
birth of Jesus is unknown, December 25 is indicated by an ancient tradition that held
that Jesus was conceived on the same day and in the same month on which he died,
March 25. However, this tradition does not explain it. There were many different
attempts, not all of which agreed, to date the birth of Christ in the ancient Church. 10
2. Inspired by apologetics and the history of religions, states that the Roman Church
would have been opposing the pagan feast called Natalis (Solis) Invicti (which was
established in 275 by the emperor Aurelian on the winter solstice) with the birth of
Christ, the true “sun of justice.”11
3. A feast for the birth of Christ would give a convenient liturgical expression to the
profession of faith from Nicea that condemned Arianism in 325. Later, in the middle
of the fifth century, this was confirmed by the ten Christmas sermons of St. Leo the
Great, the best witness for the original meaning of Christmas in the Roman liturgy as
well as the author of some of the Christmas texts from Ve (Sacramentarium
Veronense).12

III. Characteristics of the Season

a. Advent

Preparation for Christmas is an important theme for Advent, but more is involved.
Advent gives us a vision of our lives as Christians and shows us the possibilities of life.

The vision of life that Advent gives us is twofold; it looks back to the first coming of
Christ at Bethlehem, and it looks to the future when Christ will come again. In the interval
between these two events, we find meaning in our life as Christian.

First, we celebrate Christ-become-human. We view his life and experience his

presence as a human being in our history. Christ came to show us what life can and should
be. He gave us valid principles by which we can live valid lives. But Jesus knew that the
human heart could not live in isolation. He formed the Church around the concept of a
people held together by love. In that community, we discover unlimited possibilities and
meaning. Alone we can do nothing. Together we find real meaning.

7
Which means literally translated “Eight days before the calendar (first day) of January Christ of born in
Bethlehem of Judaea.” Liturgical year vol. 1 p. 117
8
Bernhard Raas, Liturgical Year (Manila: Logos, 1994), 117.
9
Raas, Liturgical Year, 117
10
Pontifical Liturgical Institute and Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies. Volume V, Liturgical Time and
Space, 197
11
(cf. Mal 3:20; Luke 1:78) Pontifical Liturgical Institute and Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies.
Volume V, Liturgical Time and Space, 197
12
Pontifical Liturgical Institute and Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies. Volume V, Liturgical Time and
Space, 196
 When Christ left this earth, he did not abandon us. He remains with us in his Spirit,
the Church, the sacraments, the Scriptures, and each other. He lives in a community with us
and keeps his vision of life before us.

When Christ comes again, his presence will no longer be hidden behind the signs and
symbols of the liturgy or the words of the Scriptures. His presence among us will be revealed
in all its fullness, a presence that will never end, a presence that will perfect and complete
our community.

This is the "greater significance" of Advent. In these few short weeks, we take in the
sweeping panorama of time - from Christ's birth to his Second Coming. The season of
Advent brings us the magnificent vision of life and hope for the future given to us by Christ.

Advent is our time to become more involved, and more caught up in the meaning and
the possibilities of life as a Christian community. Thus, we are preparing not only for
Christmas but also for Christ's Second Coming. This means that when he comes again, we
will be awake and watchful. He will not find us asleep.13

b. Christmas

Christmas is one of the most important days of the Church year, second only to
Easter itself. Celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the culmination of the mystery
of the incarnation, the feast of God becoming flesh (the Latin "in carne" means
"enfleshment"). It is a uniquely Christian teaching, the Divine choosing to become one of us.
Because of this belief, God is not only Transcendent but also wholly Immanent, Emmanuel
(God-with-us). While remaining Transcendent (meaning we must rise above our present
condition to reach Him), He is at the same time Immanent (meaning He is with us as we rise
toward Him). Every Eucharist is like Christmas where the bread and wine are transformed
into His flesh, His Body, and Blood, and, in a sense, He is born anew on the altar.

The liturgical season of Christmas begins with the vigil Masses on Christmas Eve and
concludes on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. During this season, we celebrate the
birth of Christ into our world and our hearts and reflect on the gift of salvation that is born
with him, including the fact that he was born to die for us.14

IV. Liturgical Signs and Symbols used in the Season

Advent Wreath. The wreath as a whole is meant to remind us of both the immortality of
our souls and God's promise of everlasting life to us through Christ. The candles also have
their special significance. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, and one
candle is lit each Sunday.15

Crèche, in Christianity, is a three-dimensional representation of the Nativity scene. Those

represented usually include the infant Jesus in a manger, Mary and Joseph, animals,
shepherds, angels, and the Magi. Although St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226) is credited with
popularizing it, devotion to the crèche probably existed earlier. The use of the crèche
reached its zenith during the 17th and 18th centuries in southern Europe. It is still displayed
in many churches, homes, and shops during the Christmas season, generally until Epiphany
(January 6).16

13
Catholic Online, “Why Is Advent Important - Advent & Christmas Season,” Catholic Online, accessed
April 20, 2022, https://www.catholic.org/advent/advent.php?id=6.
14
“Christmas,” USCCB, accessed April 20, 2022,
https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/christmas.
15
“The Purpose and Symbolism of the Advent Wreath and Candles,” Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, last
modified December 2, 2021, accessed April 20, 2022, https://www.mercyhome.org/blog/sunday-mass/advent-
wreath/.
 The Jesse Tree is a tradition that introduces Jesus' ancestors. The Jesse Tree is named
for Jesse, the father of King David. Stories from the Old Testament are told, and participants
create symbols to hang on Jesus 'family tree. '17

V. Personal Reflection about the Meaning and Significance of the Season

The Church through the years emphasizes the liturgy of Easter and Lent. However, thanks to
Saint Francis of Assisi I can say put so much emphasis on the incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

In life, I often experience waiting. Every time I travel it is a struggle to wait for a bus,
especially from where I came from. So it is so much joy to see a bus coming. Especially
during evening trips, it is very hard to know if the vehicle approaching is a bus or a truck
because from afar it looks like the same features or lights. However, whenever it is near the
bus would have lights that are lit on from the inside and it would blow its horn and stop to
ask if someone wants to ride.

This experience is significant to these two seasons I had made research because it teaches
me the value of waiting and preparing. After all, I am not only waiting simply for the baby
Jesus to be born. In reality, I am going to welcome the Universal Christ, the One whole who
will save me from all my sin, the Christ that is forever being born in my innermost being and
become a part of my personal history. moreover, these seasons -Advent and Christmas, are
the first manifestation of God saying to me the words I LOVE YOU!

When we speak of Advent or waiting and preparing for Christmas, we’re not simply waiting
for the baby Jesus to be born. We’re welcoming the Universal Christ, the Cosmic Christ, the
Christ that is forever being born in the human soul and into history.

16
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "crèche." Encyclopedia Britannica, November 29, 2021.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/creche-Christianity.
17
OSV Staff, “How to Make a Jesse Tree: Simply Catholic,” Simply Catholic | Helping Catholics Know &
Love the Lord and His Church, last modified November 20, 2019, accessed April 20, 2022,
https://www.simplycatholic.com/the-jesse-tree/.
Rañoa, OFM, Andres. 2005. Review of ADVENT and FRANCIS.

Catholic Online. “Why Is Advent Important - Advent & Christmas Season.” Catholic
Online. Accessed April 20, 2022. https://www.catholic.org/advent/advent.php?id=6.

“Christmas.” USCCB. Accessed April 20, 2022.

https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/christmas.

Herzing, Elizabeth, ed. “Advent to Christmas Signs and Symbols - Smchp.com.”

Http://Www.smchp.com/. Last modified 2017. Accessed April 20, 2022.
http://www.smchp.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Advent-to-Christmas-Signs-and-
Symbols.pdf.

Institute, Pontifical Liturgical, and Anscar J. Chupungco. Handbook for Liturgical Studies.
Volume V, Liturgical Time and Space. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 2000.

“The Purpose and Symbolism of the Advent Wreath and Candles.” Mercy Home for Boys
& Girls. Last modified December 2, 2021. Accessed April 20, 2022.
https://www.mercyhome.org/blog/sunday-mass/advent-wreath/.

Raas, Bernhard. Liturgical Year. Manila: Logos, 1994.

Staff, OSV. “How to Make a Jesse Tree: Simply Catholic.” Simply Catholic | Helping Catholics
Know & Love the Lord and His Church. Last modified November 20, 2019. Accessed
April 20, 2022. https://www.simplycatholic.com/the-jesse-tree/.