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Dear Friends

I must get this Newsletter in the post early this week or else you will not receive it. Life promises to be complicated during the next few weeks. I will be going to Lourdes with the usual pilgrimage for Christmas but before then I have a "pre-op" appointment at the hospital because I am going to have my left knee replaced on Friday 28^th December. I expect to be out of action for at least eight weeks but, hopefully, my new knee will give me greater mobility than at present. Please remember all those who are sick at this time and especially Fr Norman Arkwright SM, who has spent most of his life in Honiara; Monica Sharp, who has looked after the Marist Way group in Barnstaple for a number of years and my brother, Fr Peter Coleman, who continues to make progress following his serious operation in September.

ADVENT IS A TIME OF WAITING, OF EXPECTATION

That we are waiting for Christmas the advertisers and manufacturers leave us in no doubt, but the liturgy of this season calls our attention to a parallel theme. On the one hand we are preparing to commemorate the first coming of Jesus among us, the birth at Bethlehem; on the other hand we are preparing for the second coming ‘when Christ our Lord will come again in glory’ (Advent Preface 1).

Because he will come to ‘judge the living and the dead’ (Creed) we must prepare for Christ by turning away from sin ‘that we may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints’ (1 Thess. 3:13). Thus there is a strong penitential flavour to Advent – purple vestments, no Gloria on Sundays, the organ (in theory, at least) not to be used as a solo instrument.

Quite suddenly, on 17^th December and the Fourth Sunday, the mood changes. Although references to the coming feast of Christmas have not previously been entirely absent, the liturgy switches from the rather sombre thought of the second Coming to an all-out preparation for the joy of the Incarnation, the birth of our Saviour.

The two moods of Advent are a contrast but not a contradiction. The Church’s liturgy skilfully weaves the two together so that we will be ready to greet Christ when he comes again – that is, if he has been re-born in our hearts. ‘You rejoice that our Redeemer came to live with us as a man. When he comes again in glory may he reward you with endless life" (Advent, Solemn Blessing).

MARIST PILGRIMAGES

Christ must live in our hearts throughout the coming year.

Emmanuel – God is with us.

Perhaps our new slogan should be "Christ isn’t just for Christmas".

M. Coleman SM Marist Way Delegation Animator