On the Meaning of  Advent and Christmas 

 

Bishop Yanta

 

 

This is what Advent means: 
“Lord God, may we, your peo-
ple, who look forward to the
birthday of Christ, experience
the joy of salvation and cel-
ebrate that feast with love and
thanksgiving” (Opening Prayer,
Mass, Third Sunday of Advent).
Advent is about Hope: 
“the best is yet to come”; God
becomes one of us, He will be
born of Mary.  He will be called
Emmanuel (God is with us); His
mother is a virgin before and
after His birth. After eight days
He was circumcised and named
Jesus which means “God saves”
in Hebrew, and he was called
“Christ” which means anointed
– the one anointed by the Holy
Spirit.
Advent is about Joy:  “The
pleasure, satisfaction, content-
ment, rest and happiness expe-
rienced as a result of the posses-
sion of a basic human good. 
Christ is seen as the cause
of all authentic Christian joy
because He fulfills the Old
Testament promises, brings for-
giveness, grace, truth and divine
love. 
Joy for the Christian is the
result of charitable actions, for-
giveness for sin, and life under
the promise of redemption and
salvation. 
Essentially, Christian joy is
a sharing in the joy of Christ
at the accomplishment of the
works of divine salvation. 
Joy is the completion of hap-
piness, the aim of human life and
the completion of human action
and existence” (Our Sunday
Visitor, Catholic Encyclopedia).
Advent is about Little
Places and Little People
doing Great Things.  Half of
our parishes have less than one
hundred families.  Our smallest
parish is Holy Name of Jesus in
Happy, Texas. 
Similarly, Bethlehem was a
small town “too small to be
among the clans of Judah” near
Jerusalem, the big capitol. 
Jesus, the long awaited, the
son of God was born in little
Bethlehem.  Great people can
come from small places.
The Gospel of the last Sunday
of Advent speaks of the Visitation
where two “little” insignificant
women met:  the newly preg-
nant young Virgin Mary visits
the elderly pregnant Elizabeth
whose reproach of being child-
less is removed in her old age
(Luke 1:5-25).
Two miraculous pregnancies: 
one by the power of the Holy
Spirit without husband, and the
other by the power of the Holy
Spirit defying the law of nature
of a woman in advanced age
conceiving.
Two little Jewish boys:  John
the Baptist – “He will be filled
with the Holy Spirit even from his
mother’s womb...” (Luke 1:15);
Jesus the other – “Therefore the
Child to be born will be called
holy, the Son of God” (Luke
1:35).
The Best Man
 and the Groom
John the Baptist got on the
world’s stage first by preaching
in the desert, attracting great
crowds:  “Prepare the way of the
Lord, make straight his paths”
(Luke 3:4).
John was attracting such
great attention that:  “Now the
people were filled with expecta-
tion, and all were asking in their
hearts whether John might be
the Messiah” (Luke 3:15). 
John said:  “I am baptizing
you with water, but one might-
ier than me is coming...” (Luke
3:16).
Advent is a call to service: 
like John the Baptist, we point
the way to Christ.  We freely
accept slavery to Christ as true
freedom in this world.
John the Baptist pointed out
Christ:  “Behold, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of
the world” (John 1:29).
When John the Baptist relin-
quished the world’s stage to
Jesus, He continued the central
message of John:  “Repent, for
the kingdom of God is at hand”
(Matt. 4:17). 
Advent is all about repenting,
changing our lives, getting rid of
the old person in us and getting
ourselves to be a new person
– Jesus:  His values, His attitude,
thinking like Him, loving what
He loves, doing what He did.
Less of myself – more of
Jesus.  In the final witness of
John the Baptist, he said:  “He
must increase; I must decrease”
(John 3:30).  Dying to yourself,
to be more alive in Jesus!
Christmas:  Rejoice!
“Dearly beloved, today our
Saviour is born; let us rejoice. 
Sadness should have no place
on the birthday of life!  No
one is shut out from this joy;
all share the same reason for
rejoicing.  Let the saint see vic-
tory over sin.  Let the sinner see
God’s offer of forgiveness.
“Let the non-believer take
courage that he is summoned
to a higher life.  Jesus came to
overthrow the devil, the origin
of sin and death that enslaves
man!  Glory to God in the
highest and peace to men of
good will who accept Jesus and
all his teachings!  Rejoice!” (St.
Leo the Great, Pope).
The days after Christmas
that the Church celebrates have
been well chosen by the Holy
Spirit. 
The First Day (Dec. 26) is
St. Stephen’s, one of the first
seven deacons (Acts 6:1-7),
the first martyr of the Church,
whose dying words were simi-
lar to Jesus’ last words:  “Lord,
do not hold this sin against
them” (Acts 7:60).  The first
martyr of the USA is Father
Juan Padilla, OFM who offered
Mass in our nearby canyon
Ascension Thursday 1541.
The Second Day after
Christmas:  John the Apostle,
the Beloved of our Lord, last of
the apostles to die.
The Third Day after
Christmas: The Holy Innocents,
Martyrs.  Biblical scholars esti-
mate that about 39 baby boys
under two years were killed by
the order of Herod to make
sure the new born king of the
Jews was killed.  Today in this
country alone, one-and-a-half
million babies are killed each
year before they are born in
the name of “choice”, “I want
to control my body”, and “my
constitutional rights”.  Pray for
the end to abortion!
The Fourth Day, St. Thomas
Becket, bishop, martyr, eight
years Chancellor of England,
Archbishop of Canterbury who
defended freedom and rights of
the Church, killed by order of
Henry II, Dec. 29, 1170.
The Fifth Day:  “All power-
ful God, may the human birth
of your Son free us from our
former slavery to sin and bring
us new life” (Opening prayer). 
Please remember me in prayer. 
It’s my 12th Anniversary as a
bishop.
The Sixth Day:  The Feast
of the Holy Family.  “...teach
us the sanctity of human love,
show us the value of family life,
and help us to live in peace
with all...” (Opening prayer).
The Seventh Day:  January
1 – The Feast of Mary, Mother
of God is not a Holy Day of
Obligation this year!