However, Advent is not like Lent: it is a Joyful season, one of anticipation; we prepare our world to receive the King of Kings. We know we are waiting for the coming of the Son of God, but we are also joyful because without His incarnation and birth, there would be no death and resurrection, thus we anticipate our salvation. As the Advent hymn goes:
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
During this season, we practice a spirit of penance and mortification. We wish to greet Him worthily on Christmas Day, therefore we spend four weeks in prayer and fasting. In this “secular age”, fasting during Advent can have a secondary meaning, when people around us have pre-Christmas parties fasting during Advent can be a good way of evangelizing (although don’t overdo it!)
Something that the Bishop pointed out in his pastoral letter which was read out at Mass today, is the element of excitement during Advent. He likens it to waiting for the return of a loved one after a long period of seperation.
Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously. – Pope John Paul II
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