Editorial from the Prior - December 2024

Source: St. Michael's Priory

Editorial from the Prior

Dear faithful,

What is Advent?

Some of us have the tradition of placing a wreath of fir branches on the table with four candles. Each Sunday of Advent another candle is lit. It is a beautiful tradition: we prepare for the coming of He who is “the Light of the world”. The fir wreath expresses our desire for His coming in our hearts.

It is this thought that dominates the season of Advent: Christ is coming. Prepare your hearts! Think of who is coming and make room for him!

It is not the time to decorate your homes already with red and green ribbons, to put candy canes around the fireplace or listen to Christmas music on the radio (even if it is playing everywhere else). It is a time of penance, of great expectation, before the divine guest comes.

The Church gives us three guides in the time of Advent: the Prophet Isaiah, St John the Baptist, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Isaiah lived about 800 years before Christ, but he already saw so many details of Christ’s life that he is called “the fifth evangelist”. What does Isaiah say about Our Lord? He says that he will be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.” Isaiah awakens our desire for the Saviour. What does our world in its craziness need more than a counsellor, divine help, a Father, true peace? The book of Isaiah in its first chapters sings the magnificence of the Saviour.

The second guide through Advent is St John the Baptist. Of course, St John was only born a few months before Our Lord, so he did not prepare the birth of Our Lord, but as an adult St John prepared the public appearance of Our Lord, he prepared the crowds to receive Our Lord’s teaching, he pointed to Our Lord and said “see the Lamb of God!” (John 1,36). How does St John say to receive Our Lord? You will hear it in the Gospel of the fourth Sunday of Advent: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!” (Lk 3,4). St John says to do penance. He baptizes people with water as a sign that they need to regret their sins in order to receive God’s grace. St John’s preaching is mentioned several times in the liturgy of Advent because he is the messenger of penance and contrition, the virtues that remove the obstacles to God’s grace.

The third guide through Advent is the Blessed Virgin Mary. We will celebrate her great feast on December 8th, the Immaculate Conception. Our Lady has all the best dispositions to receive Our Lord well. She is untouched by sin, she is full of faith, she is overflowing with generosity: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.” Of course, we could say, but I will never be as perfect as the Blessed Virgin, and it’s true. She is free from Original Sin, she is “full of grace”, she is the Temple in which Our Lord came to dwell. But is true that she wants us, she chose each one of us to receive Our Lord as well, she wants us to come, like the shepherds, to receive Our Lord from her at Christmas time. She wants to help us to receive Him worthily, with humility, faith and love.

In the course of Advent, it is good to read the texts of the prophet Isaiah (the first forty-nine chapters) to awaken our desire for the Saviour. St John the Baptist helps us remove the obstacles to Christ’s coming. Our devotion to Our Lady will give us the confidence to approach the stable, knowing our unworthiness, but relying on her mediation for us.

Wishing you a blessed Advent,
Fr. Joseph Stannus