For many people, Advent seems to fly by. Being a season only about four weeks long, it often feels like we just got started and it is already gone. Even more, it is actually variable in its number of days. This year, because Dec. 25 falls on Saturday, Advent is 27 days long. But in the years when Christmas falls on a Monday, Advent would be a mere 22 days in duration.

 

Advent is also a challenge for our spiritual concentration because it falls in that part of the Christmas season prior to Christmas day. As a result, the Christmas parties, the planning for relatives and Christmas dinner and, sadly, the massive pressures to join the material consumerism of the season sap our energy and attention for the spiritual awakening to which we are called during Advent.

 

Nevertheless, Advent is an important annual event in the lifelong task of deepening our faith. In short, we need Advent.

 

As we read and reflect upon the Old Testament, we are likely struck by the frequency with which the people of Israel constantly vacillated from strength to weariness and infidelity against the God who had led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses, for example, no more than receives the Ten Commandments before he finds the people reveling in the presence of a false God of their own making (Ex 32). The Book of Judges chronicles the leaders raised up by God to bring His people back to faith as time and again they fell away.

 

The growing secularization in our society as well as the removal of God and of Christian morals and values, shows that the wounds of sin have not vanished. Our time is similar to that of the Old Testament.

 

But the answer to that failure is the same now as it was then. And it is the central theme of Advent. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah and of John the Baptist, “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Is 40:3, 

Jn 1:23).

 

That message is not only for our society. It is the spiritual message that each of us needs to embrace with urgency. The Lord will come again, and we need to be ready to meet Him.

 

Advent is meant to awaken us from spiritual doldrums. And that awakening, because it is urgent, is not meant to be a gentle and soothing arousal from a welcome sleep. Because of the urgency, Advent is like an abrupt shaking so that we make ourselves instantly alert and ready to meet our Lord in judgment.

 

What might we do during this Advent season? How might we use it well?

 

Because Advent is intended to draw us to the Lord, we need to examine our consciences. Where am I truly drawing closer to Jesus in my life? Good morals, witnessing to Him before others, sacrifices and fidelity to my Catholic faith and practice — all these are signs of God’s grace, and each of us needs to root ourselves more deeply in them.

 

Conversely, where am I separated from Christ and the Catholic faith? Am I slothful about my religious practice? Do I miss Sunday Mass? Am I joining in the moral evasions of contemporary society?

After this examination of conscience, we need to attack any spiritual deficiencies that we find. We can still change our hearts. We can return to Mass each week or take in a weekday Mass during this season. And an Advent confession is a must to prepare the way for the Lord.

 

Advent is ultimately a time of great hope. The Lord loves us. He calls us back. He reminds us that our time is short and He is forgiving. Yes, the season of Advent is brief but we should not underestimate its importance. Let’s not waste a single day.