Msgr. Beaulieu – Advent Present and Past

Advent Present & Advent Past

The season of Advent originated as a fast of forty days in preparation for Christmas, commencing on the day after the feast of St. Martin (12 November), whence it was often called St. Martin’s Lent – a name by which it was known as early as the fifth century. Later on, in the ninth century, the season’s duration was reduced to four weeks. Then, several centuries later, the fast was replaced by simple abstinence. In the intervening centuries since then, many Catholics lived Advent as a penitential season. Though it was not as severe as Lent, yet it was penitential nonetheless.  Advent’s penitential aspect remained, more or less unchanged, until the middle of the twentieth century.

Whether then or now, on Gaudete Sunday, the focus of Advent shifts. The title Gaudete is derived from the Introit, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, ‘Rejoice’” (Lat. Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, Gaudete), specifically taken from Philippians 4:4. The first half of Advent can be summarized by the insight that “The Lord is coming” and, subsequently, from this Third Sunday until December 24th, the emphasis shifts to “The Lord is near” that captures the essence of the immediate preparation needed for the closeness of the Lord’s Nativity. Today’s joy-filled Sunday serves as a reminder that the God who loved the world so much, in order to willingly send His Son, eternally remains in charge. Thus, as we long for Christ’s return, we do so not out of fear but with tremendous joy. Gaudete is inspired by a verse from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (Phil 4:4), yet the expanded passage (vv. 1-6) is a series of moral admonitions founded upon the view of Christ and His coming.

Understanding Rejoice & Grace

Rejoice or kaírete (Gk. χαίρετε) is an imperative. The Greek word chairo (Gk. χαίρω) means to rejoice or to be glad, and it is the root of the Greek word charis (Gk. χάρις) that means gratia or grace. Those two words—chairo and charis—when used biblically reveal that the chairo can also mean to rejoice exceedingly, to be well, or to thrive. In salutations or greetings, chairo can mean “hail!” When used at the beginning of letters, it can mean “to give one greeting” or “to salute”.

In Christian thought, grace or charis is understood as a gift from God to people that is “generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved”. Grace is described as divine favor, love, clemency, and a share in the divine life of God. The Greek verb “chairó” (Gk. χαίρω) primarily means to rejoice or be glad. It conveys a sense of inner joy and delight, often in response to God’s grace and goodness. In the New Testament, that word is frequently used to express the joy that believers experience through their relationship with Christ and the hope of salvation. So, the Christian understanding of joy, as expressed by “chairó,” transcends mere external circumstances because it is deeply rooted in the spiritual reality of God’s presence and promises. This joy is often contrasted with the temporary and superficial happiness found in worldly pursuits.

Charis eventually came to signify “favor,” “goodwill,” and “lovingkindness or hesed” — especially as granted by a superior to an inferior. In the New Testament, the frequently-used word grace (ca. 156 times) takes on a special redemptive sense in which God makes His favor available on behalf of sinners, who actually do not deserve it. There is tremendous emphasis in the New Testament upon the fact that human salvation is the result of Heaven’s grace. This beautiful truth should never be minimized; yet, at the same time, it must not be perverted.

The significant word grace came into Middle English from Old French grâce, which itself is derived from the Latin words gratia, meaning kindness, favor, beneficence, and gratus meaning ‘pleasing’. Its Latin root means it is related to all those little words that mean something that is freely given or gratis, but also all those words across the European languages that mean thank you or thankfulness, such as gracias in Spanish or grazie in Italian. So there is a deeply rooted link between the two important English words: graceful and grateful, since they spring from the same stem. You can easily notice that those who give thanks, those who remember every day something for which to be grateful, also have a certain grace about all they do and are gracious alike to friend and stranger.

Even in secular language the deepest roots of the word grace are in kindness, good will, esteem and thankfulness. However, as that stem blossoms out and flowers into all its associated words, you become aware of a kind of quiet beauty about this five-letter word grace, which yields words like graceful and gracious. Even in ordinary English, grace carries something of abundance, bounty, fullness, even of some unexpected additional beauty, as in the musician’s term a grace note or our own phrase about being in someone’s good graces or the phrase which suggests the free bounty of the monarch towards a subject: grace and favor and of course the way grace is also the name for the simple little thanksgiving we make before meals.

Excerpted from http://www.praytellblog.com. “Gaudete Sunday versus the Third Sunday of Advent.” 12 December 2021. See also the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. charis.