IS ADVENT A PENITENTIAL SEASON? IT KINDA’ DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK…

The secular world has begun “celebrating” the Christmas Season. In Deacon Dad’s view, this customarily occurs at the ceremonious appearance of “Santa Claus” at the tail end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yes, the store decorations have been up for some time and there are Christmas (as well as “holiday”) parties on our social agendas during the month of December. Christians of various stripes often fittingly remind us that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” and encourage us to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

So what season is it?

On the Church calendar, however, December 1, 2013 marks the beginning of the Church year and the beginning of the season of Advent.

At Catholic Mass (and many other denominational services) we immediately note a less festive setting. Fewer floral arrangements (if any) adorn the church. There’s a better than 50% chance you’ll hear O’ Come O’ Come Emanuel as the entrance hymn to the Liturgy (again, not sung in a particularly festive manner.) We don’t sing the Gloria during the opening Rites. The liturgical color for vestments is purple as in the penitential season of Lent. So many people, those who’re paying attention, will often ask the question, “Is Advent also a penitential season?” And while I’m delighted that people are often asking the question, my answer is often surprising. I now answer by saying, “It depends on whom you ask.”

Through the years I’ve hears many priests answer the question with vehement and certain, “Yes, Advent is definitely a penitential season. They point to the liturgical rubric instructions that specify:

• few or no flowers in the church.

• no Gloria at Sunday Mass

• Purple color, just like Lent

• less festive music

And they’ll also note, “And we have penance services during Advent, just like Lent.”

Other priests will, just as vehemently and certainly counter, “No, Advent is definitely not a penitential season.” Ans they will point to additional liturgical rubric instructions that specify:

• There are no days of fasting required as we have in Lent.

• We sing the Alleluia just before the Gospel is proclaimed

• We’re allowed to have flowers in the church during Advent whereas not so during Lent.

• The use of musical instruments may be of moderate tone during Advent, not as restrictive as during Lent.

For those of you who like to score sporting events, it’s a bit of a draw…or is it?

Here are what some of the present operative Church documents actually say,

About Advent

• Advent has a two-fold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered, and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.” (General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar [General Norms] ,1969, #39)

• During Advent the use of the organ and other musical instruments and the decorating of the altar with flowers should be done in a moderate manner, as is consonant with the character of the season, without anticipating the full joy of Christmas (Ceremonial of Bishops, 1989, #236.)

• The Official color for the season of Advent is violet. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal [GIRM] #346.

• The color Rose may be used, where it is the practice on Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent.) GIRM, #346.

No obvious or specific references to penance or fasting. And by the way, penance services can be held at any time of the year (nothing liturgically tying them to any particular season.)

let’s briefly contrast that with what the documents say about Lent:

• “Lent is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. For the Lenten liturgy disposes both catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery: catechumens, through the several stages of Christian Initiation; the faithful, through reminders of their own baptism and through penitential practices.” (General Norms #27)

• “The annual observance of Lent is the special season for the ascent to the holy mountain of Easter. Through its twofold theme of repentance and baptism, …” Ceremonial of Bishops, #249)

• “Alleluia is not sung from the beginning of Lent until the Easter Vigil. (Order of Prayer in the liturgy of the Hours and Celebration of the Eucharist.” (ORDO), 2014.

• “During Lent the altar should not be decorated with flowers, and musical instruments may be played only to give necessary support to the singing.” (ORDO)

• “The readings for the Lenten Masses have been chosen in relation to the themes of baptismal renewal and penance.” (ORDO)

• Ash Wednesday is a day of universal fast and abstinence in the Church. (ORDO)

Note the multiple references to penance and at least one regarding fast.

So does that settle it? Not necessarily.

Perhaps stirring the debate came Pope Benedict at the First Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent in 2007. The Holy Father wore what is called the Penitential Papal Formale. This was reported on December 2, 2007 by Nicola De Grandi at The New Liturgical Movement site

http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2007/12/papal-formale-its-is-back.html

(Above: Penitential Papal Formale, offered to Pope Leo XIII by the Augustinian Order in 1887. Gilded silver, diamonds and pearls. Worn by His Holiness Benedict XVI for the First Vespers of Advent, 2007 – Photo from “Trésors inconnus du Vatican” by Bernard Berthod and Pierre Blanchard)

Some additional research by The Roman Sacristan (a gentleman who chose not to disclose his name and evidently entered a monastery in June of 2009, http://romansacristan.blogspot.com/ shared some of his research looking into “The New Dictionary of the Liturgy” by Gerhard Podhradsky. This is an historic treatment of the liturgical seasons whereby Podhradsky evidently references the Gallican Liturgy and some of the writings of St. Gregory the Great. There apparently are some references to a sort of penitential aspect to Advent. See his December 3, 2007 entry for more extensive quotations at http://romansacristan.blogspot.com/2006/12/is-advent-penitential.html

This is a good excuse for me to pay more careful attention to the daily homilies and treatises contained in the Office of Readings in our Liturgy of the Hours and from the Holy Fathers’ Advent homilies. Stay tuned for my further reporting. Meanwhile…

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have recently uncovered their Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, A Statement Issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops November 18, 1966. It points clearly to their desire, at least in 1966 (and still / again in 2013), for Advent to be deemed, at least to some certain degree, penitential.​

Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence (portions)

“4. Of the many penitential seasons which at one time or another have entered the liturgical calendar of Christians (who on this point have preserved the holy tradition of their Hebrew spiritual ancestors), three have particularly survived to our times: Advent, Lent, and the vigils of certain feasts.

Advent

5. Changing customs, especially in connection with preparation for Christmas, have diminished popular appreciation of the Advent season. Something of a holiday mood of Christmas appears now to be anticipated in the days of the Advent season. As a result, this season has unfortunately lost in great measure the role of penitential preparation for Christmas that it once had.

6. Zealous Christians have striven to keep alive or to restore the spirit of Advent by resisting the trend away from the disciplines and austerities that once characterized the season among us. Perhaps their devout purpose will be better accomplished, and the point of Advent will be better fostered if we rely on the liturgical renewal and the new emphasis on the liturgy to restore its deeper understanding as a season of effective preparation for the mystery of the Nativity.

7. For these reasons, we, the shepherds of souls of this conference,call upon Catholics to make the Advent season, beginning with 1966, a time of meditation on the lessons taught by the liturgy and of increased participation in the liturgical rites by which the Advent mysteries are exemplified and their sanctifying effect is accomplished.

8. If in all Christian homes, churches, schools, retreats and other religious houses, liturgical observances are practiced with fresh fervor and fidelity to the penitential spirit of the liturgy, then Advent will again come into its own. Its spiritual purpose will again be clearly perceived.

9. A rich literature concerning family and community liturgical observances appropriate to Advent has fortunately developed in recent years. We urge instruction based upon it, counting on the liturgical renewal of ourselves and our people to provide for our spiritual obligations with respect to this season.”

It gets “curiouser” and “curiouser”…

I’ll admit, it appears curious that a 1966 United States Bishops document suggesting a penitential aspect to Advent is followed by the 1969 General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar (which omits penitential references to Advent), the 1989 Ceremonial of Bishop (same omission), along with the General Instructions to the Roman Missal (2011) (same omission), and the 2014 ORDO (same omission), is then placed back on the USCCB website in time for Advent 2013. There is an obvious feeling of a need for us to put Advent into a proper perspective and certainly that it is not the Christmas season yet.

Additional curiosities of Pope Benedict wearing a garment with penitential meaning all the while not writing or mentioning a penitential aspect to the Advent season.

So again, “Is Advent also a penitential season?” “It depends on whom you ask.”

Enjoying the season, and pray “Come Lord Jesus…”

Deacon Dad