Advent: Slow down, appreciate anticipation of Christmas

As Catholics begin a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent, liturgical and catechetical leaders are reminding people to slow down and appreciate the weeks of hope and anticipation that lead up to Christmas.

“It’s a time of waiting and expectation,” said Father Ramil Fajardo, who serves as director of liturgy for the St. James Chapel at the Archbishop Quigley Pastoral Center, rector of the National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and a judge in the metropolitan tribunal.

And while the liturgical color of Advent is purple, like the penitential season of Lent, the first season of the liturgical year comes with a spirit of sacrifice for the good that is coming.

That can be seen, Fajardo said, even in the commercialization of the weeks and months before Christmas, when people sacrifice in order to give gifts and be generous to others.

“It’s a joyful kind of detachment,” he said.

Mia Toschi and Madalyn Jozaitis, who with Saraidee Reyes-Villa wrote a children’s book called “The Advent Adventures with Father Nate,” said they were inspired by students in the faith formation program at their parish, Holy Family in La Porte, Indiana.

“Our children had questions about the liturgical year,” said Jozaitis, the parish’s director of religious education. “They didn’t understand why the vestments were changing color.”

The Catholic Adventures has a new book coming out in January to help children learn about Lent, the authors said, and both books will be available in Spanish as well as English next year. The Catholic Adventures website offers more resources for children developed by religious educators.

The books’ main character, Father Nate, is based on their pastor, Father Nate Edquist. In “The Advent Adventures,” he takes readers on a guided tour through the season, explaining the symbolism of the Advent wreath and touching on feast days, including the feasts of St. Nicholas, St. Lucy and Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

“My favorite thing about Advent is just the richness of it,” Edquist said, noting that in his parish, with a significant Hispanic population, the Advent season includes the novena leading up to the Dec. 12 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the eight days of posadas before Christmas.

“There’s all kinds of celebrations. … It’s so rich, and it can be easily overlooked and overshadowed by the commercialism of Christmas. We want to take kids on a deep dive into the coziness of Advent before entering into the craziness of Christmas.”

Fajardo likened the season of Advent to a “reset,” a time for people to take stock and renew their commitment to their faith lives. Children enjoy Advent calendars, he said, that offer a bit of Scripture or tradition — with or without a bit of candy — each day.

Adults can use one of the many devotional resources available to help keep them focused on the anticipation of Advent, he said. Another suggestion is to read the Gospel of Luke, one chapter a day, starting on Dec. 1. That takes readers all the way through Jesus’ earthly life, ending on Dec. 24 with the chapter on the ascension. 

“If you do that, on Dec. 24 you will know the reason why we are celebrating,” said Fajardo, who said he used Luke’s Gospel as an Advent devotion last year. “This is really a super joyful season.”

The key, he said, is to actually take the time to appreciate it.

“We have to be pretty deliberate,” Fajardo said. “That’s part of the penitential aspect. We have to tell ourselves, ‘No. Slow down.’”

That can mean being attentive, at home and at Mass.

“Listen to the preaching, see the purple, hear the readings, see the lighting of the candles,” Fajardo said. “It is on us to slow down.”

Toschi said Advent is her favorite time to be in church, in part because Advent offers lessons that Catholics should carry with them throughout the year, such as the virtues highlighted by the four candles of the Advent wreath.

“Peace, hope, joy, love — we should celebrate that throughout the year,” she said. “We should strive to be good people good disciples every day.”