I love Advent.
By all means, do have yourself a merry little Christmas, but please, don't overlook the great moments and feasts of Advent! There are two great ones on this first week:
Saint Nicholas, December 6
Background: This fourth century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor is honored for his generous charity by both the Eastern and Western churches. The best known story about Nicholas involves his charity toward a poor father who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters. Rather than see the young women forced into prostitution, the bishop secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, enabling the daughters to be married. This story evolved over the centuries into the custom of gift-giving on Nicholas’ feast day.
- How about tonight, on the eve of St. Nicholas, you have everyone in your family set a shoe outside their bedroom so that the generous bishop can leave a surprise?
Immaculate Conception, December 8
Background: The feast of the Conception of Mary was celebrated as early as the seventh century in the Eastern Church, although it was in 1854 that it became a feast of the universal church when Pope Pius IX declared: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved from all stain of original sin.”
- I received my first communion on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which was the name of the all-girls Catholic school that I attended in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Perhaps nothing brings the question of Advent--WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?--as does this feast. We are waiting for the Son of God, born of Mary of Nazareth, a unique and special vessel preserved from original sin.
Ah yes, the Immaculate Conception. Honoring the woman who gave birth to Jesus is no problem. But affirming Augustine's understanding of original sin? That's a problem for more and more of us modern day Christians. That the person primarily responsible for the personalization of Jesus was richly graced makes sense. But that something about the coitus of Anna and Joakim that produced Mary would have necessarily transmitted the alienation of sin to Mary? What sense does that make unless one believes that eros is itself sinful and its sinfulness is somehow transferred almost genetically to the offspring of any coital act?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Leaving the coital act aside, are you denying that we live in a deeply wounded world where everyone of us falls short of the better angels of our nature. It is not just the monsters - the Hitler's - but each of us, who fail daily in many small ways to live in love, gratitude, and charity. Each of us bears this inclination from a very young age. If we are not born with it, when does it enter our being?
DeleteMaria, I was out a bit ago and am almost sure I saw someone lurking about our cul-de-sac who looked a lot like the guy in the first photo. The five kiddos are waiting with great anticipation to see if St. Nick will stop by this year. :) Especially the youngest, Nicholas!
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing all this with me, Roxane. And happy feast day to Nicholas!
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