Archbishop Chaput on Advent as a Season of Prayer and Witness

"Advent is a wonderful time of year.  It's that special season when families huddle together around the TV (or alone, on their various devices) to watch hundreds of greed-inspiring ads and listen to Xmas carols with rewritten lyrics that sell lottery tickets, and cars, and smartphones.

"That's Option A.  Option B is this:  We can make Advent 2017 something much deeper and much better.  We can live it as the season was meant to be lived.

"C.S. Lewis, the great Christian scholar and storyteller of the last century, had a particular dislike for the yearly pagan blowout called 'Xmas' (now 'the holidays' - even Xmas was too religious for mass marketing purposes).  Lewis wasn't a Scrooge, and he certainly knew the beauty and joy of gift-giving rooted in love.  But he always led his readers to remember what Advent and Christmas are actually about. . . .

"The joy in Christmas ('Christ-Mass') has its source in the birth of Jesus Christ, redeemer of man.  Advent, the start of the new Church year, is the preface or prequel to that world-changing event.  It readies our hearts to receive the Child Jesus at Bethlehem, and also Jesus the Son of God and Lord of history at the end of time.  It's a season to reflect, repent, put aside our sins and failures, and begin again in hope as true disciples."

In a recent commentary, Archbishop Charles Chaput, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, reflected on Christian life as a balance of contemplation (prayer, worship, and the sacraments) and action and on the place of our celebration of Advent in this balance.

To access Archbishop Chaput's complete column, please visit:

Archdiocese of Philadelphia: Archbishop Chaput’s Weekly Column: The Season of Prayer and Witness (11 DEC 17)