We journey to Bethlehem through Advent and Christmastide

Our double issue of the Catholic Herald embraces the entire season of Advent and Christmastide: the journey to Bethlehem culminating in the arrival of the Magi and concluding with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Candlemas. It is about preparation as well as celebration.

At Advent we look to the Second Coming of Christ; at Christmas we rejoice again at his first coming in the flesh. It is one of the great divides between the Church and the world that the Church’s year begins when it does, at the beginning of Advent. 1 January, when the secular year begins, sits within the season as one of the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Indeed, the Church’s time has never been so much at odds with secular time. At a stage when Christians are preparing – we hope, devoutly – during Advent, the rest of society – certainly in Britain and Ireland – is busy prematurely celebrating with parties and Christmas lunches. When we get to the real beginning of the feast, at Vespers on Christmas Eve, many people are exhausted. Advent carols are rarely heard, but Christmas carols are played on a loop from the middle of November. In the secular world, on New Year’s Day, the tinsel and the mince pies are abruptly displaced by salads, smoothies and a dispiriting regime of diet and exercise.

Catholics should have none of this. Even if we do not fast during Advent, we should remember that it is a time of preparation. When it comes to Christmas, we should celebrate it for the whole season, climaxing on the vigil of the Epiphany, Twelfth Night. Then the season should wind down gradually until Candlemas on 2 February.

Christians are meant to be a sign of contradiction in the world; well, our contradiction means that we will abstain (perhaps just a little) when others are celebrating, and celebrate when others are fasting. We wish all our readers every blessing for Advent and Christmastide.

This article appears in the December 2024 edition of the Catholic Herald. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent, high-calibre, counter-cultural and orthodox Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click HERE.

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