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Guéranger: o Advent

Capitolo Primo

Storia dell'Avvento

Il nome dell'Avvento .

Si dà, nella Chiesa latina, il nome di Avvento [1] al tempo destinato dalla Chiesa a preparare i fedeli alla celebration of the feast of Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. The mystery of this great day no doubt deserved the honor of a prelude to prayer and penance so that would be impossible to conclusively establish the first institution of this preparation time, which only later received the name of Advent [2 ].

Advent should be considered in two different ways: as a time to prepare itself to the Birth of the Savior, through the exercises of penance, or as an organized body of ecclesiastical offices with the same end. Since the fifth century we find the use of exhortations to the people to place it at the Christmas party and we were in this respect two sermons of St. Maximus of Turin, not to mention several other once attributed to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, and instead seem to be that of St. Caesarius of Arles. If these documents are not yet indicate the duration and the exercises of this holy time, we observed at least the antiquity of the use by special sermons that distinguishes the season of Advent. Saint Ivo of Chartres, St. Bernard, and several other doctors of the eleventh and twelfth centuries have left special sermons de adventu Domini, completely separate from Sunday Homilies on the Gospels of this time. Chapter of Charles the Bald in the year 864, the bishops present at the prince that he should not call them by their churches during Lent or during Advent affairs under the pretext of State or some military expedition, because they have at the time of the special duties to perform, mainly that of preaching.

An old document in which they are specified, although in a confusing, time and points of Advent, is a passage from St. Gregory of Tours, the tenth book of his History of the Franks in which reported that St Perpetual, one of his predecessors, who occupied the seat to the 480, had established that the faithful fasted three times a week from the feast of St. Martin until Christmas [3]. With this regulation, St. Perpetual established a new observation, or simply sanctioned an already existing law? You impossible to determine precisely today. We note at least this time rather than forty days or forty-three days, expressive design, and blessed by the penance during Lent as a second, though less rigorous [4].

then we find the ninth canon of the first Council of Macon, held in 583, which ordered that, during the same interval by St. Martin's for Christmas, be fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and will mark the sacrifice according to the Lenten ritual. A few years ago, the Second Council of Tours held in 567, ordered the monks to fast from the beginning of December until Christmas. This practice of penance spread to all the forty giorni per i fedeli stessi; e si chiamò volgarmente la Quaresima di san Martino. I Capitolari di Carlo Magno, al libro sesto, non ne lasciano alcun dubbio; e Rabano Mauro attesta la medesima cosa nel secondo libro della Istituzione dei chierici. Si facevano anche particolari festeggiamenti nel giorno di san Martino, come si fa ancor oggi all'avvicinarsi della Quaresima e a Pasqua.

Variazioni nelle osservanze.

L'obbligo di questa Quaresima che, cominciando a pesare in modo quasi impercettibile, era cresciuto successivamente fino a diventare una legge sacra, diminuì grado a grado; e i quaranta giorni da san Martino a Natale si trovarono ridotti four weeks. It is seen as the practice of fasting that had begun in France, but from here it spread to England, as we learn from the history of the Venerable Bede, in Italy, as appears from a diploma Astolfo, King of the Lombards († 753) In Germany, in Spain [5], etc.., but you can see the evidence in the great work of Dom Martene the ancient rites of the Church. The first clue that we find the reduction to four weeks of Advent we can believe that, since the ninth century, the letter of Pope St. Nicholas I to the Bulgarians. The testimony of rater Verona and abundance of Fleury, both authors belong to the same century, also serves to prove that even then was being discussed a lot for decrease of one third the length of the Advent fast. It is true that St. Peter Damian in the eleventh century, still assumed that the Advent fast of forty days and that was St. Louis, two centuries later, continue to observe this measure, but perhaps this holy king practiced in this way for the transport of special devotion.

The discipline of the Church of the West, having relaxed the duration of the Advent fast, soon softened enough to turn this into a simple fasting abstinence, are also of the councils since the twelfth century, such as the Selingstadt 1122, which seem only to require the clergy to such abstinence [6]. The Council of Salisbury, in 1281, seems also forced Only the monks. On the other hand, such is the confusion on this matter, no doubt because the different churches of the West have not been the subject of a uniform regulation, which, in his letter to the Bishop of Braga, Innocent III states that the ' use of fasting for the whole of Advent in Rome still existed in his time, and Durand, always in the thirteenth century, in his Rationale of the Divine Office, also shows that fasting was continued in France for the duration of that sacred time.

However, this practice was increasingly diminishing so that all he could do in 1362 Pope Urban V to arrest the fall complete, was to force all the clerics of his court to preserve the withdrawal of Advent, with no mention of fasting, and without understanding all the other clergy, much less lay people, under this law. San Carlo Borromeo also tried to resurrect the spirit, if not the practice of old people in the Milan area. In his fourth council, ordered the priests to exhort the faithful to receive Communion at least every Sunday of Lent and Advent, and then directed to his own diocese a pastoral letter in which, after having reminded them of the provisions by which is to be celebrated this sacred time, made for instance at least lead them to fast on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. Finally, Benedict XIV still archbishop of Bologna, treading so glorious orme, ha consacrato la sua undicesima Istituzione Ecclesiastica a ridestare nello spirito dei fedeli della sua diocesi la sublime idea che i cristiani avevano un tempo del tempo dell'Avvento, e a combattere un pregiudizio diffuso in quella regione, cioè che l'Avvento riguardava le sole persone religiose, e non i semplici fedeli. Egli dimostra che questa asserzione, salvo che la si intenda semplicemente del digiuno e dell'astinenza, è di per sé temeraria e scandalosa, poiché non si potrebbe dubitare che esiste, nelle leggi e nelle usanze della Chiesa universale, tutto un insieme di pratiche destinate a mettere i fedeli in uno stato di preparazione alla grande festa della Nascita di Gesù Cristo.

La Chiesa greca osserva ancora the Advent fast, but with much less severe than that of Lent. It consists of forty days, as of November 14, the day the Church celebrates the feast of St. Philip. All this time, we observe abstinence from meat, butter, milk and eggs, but use is made of fish, olive oil and wine, all things forbidden during Lent. Fasting itself is compulsory only for seven days in his forties, and the whole is commonly called the Lent of St. Philip. The Greeks justify this by saying that the mitigation of Lent Christmas is only a monastic institution, while Easter is of apostolic institution.

But if the external practices consecrated to penance that once the season of Advent in the West, have gradually eased, so that today there are none left no trace outside the monastery, the set of the Liturgy of Advent has not changed, and it is in the zeal to steal the spirit of the faithful will prove a real preparation for Christmas.

Changes in the Liturgy.

The form of the liturgy of Advent, as we have today in the Roman Church, has undergone some changes. St. Gregory (590-604) seems to have first established that this office would embrace first five Sundays, as you can see from the most ancient Sacramentary of that great Pope You can also say about it, according to Metz and Amalario Berno of Reichenau, followed by Dom Martene and Benedict XIV, which St. Gregory appears to be the author of the ecclesiastical precept of Advent, although the 'used to consecrate a longer or shorter time to prepare for the Christmas party and the rest of mind, and fasting and abstinence of this sacred time to be started first in France. San Gregorio was established, for the churches of the Roman rite, the form of the Office during this sort of Lent, fasting, and penalized that accompanied it, but leaving a certain freedom to different churches on the way to practice it.

Since IX and X century, as can be seen from Amalario, St. Nicholas I, Berno of Reichenau, Retera of Verona, and so on., Sundays were already reduced to four, is the same number that bears the Gregorian Sacramentary given by Pamela, and that seems to have been transcribed at the time. Since then, the Roman Church, the period of Advent has not changed, and has always consisted of four weeks, of which the fourth is the same that falls in the Christmas party, unless that party does not happen Sunday. You can then assign the current use for a period of a thousand years, at least in the Roman Church, as there is evidence that until the thirteenth century some churches of France have retained the custom of the five Sundays [7].

The Ambrosian Church still has six weeks in the liturgy of Advent, the Gothic or Mozarabic Missal has the same custom. For the Gallican Church, the fragments that Dom Mabillon has preserved its liturgy does not show us anything in this regard, but it is natural to think this scholar whose authority is also reinforced by the Dom Martene, who followed up the Church of Gaul this point, as on many others, the customs of the Gothic church, that the liturgy of Advent was composed equally of his six Sundays and six weeks [8].

How the Greeks, their address books for the season of Advent should be read in Nene's Office after 14 November. They do not hanno un Ufficio proprio dell'Avvento, e non celebrano durante questo tempo la Messa dei Presantificati, come fanno in Quaresima. Si trovano soltanto, nel corpo stesso degli Uffici dei Santi che occupano il periodo dal 15 novembre alla domenica più vicina a Natale, parecchie allusioni alla Natività del Salvatore, alla maternità di Maria, alla grotta di Betlemme, ecc. Nella domenica che precede il Natale, celebrano quella che chiamano la Festa dei santi Avi, cioè la Commemorazione dei Santi dell'Antico Testamento, per celebrare l'attesa del Messia. Il 20, 21, 22 e 23 dicembre sono decorati del titolo di Vigilia della Natività; e benché in quei giorni si celebri ancora l'Ufficio di parecchi Santi, il mistero della prossima Nascita dominates the Liturgy of the Savior.

Chapter Two

Mystic Advent

The triple Coming.

If now, after describing the characteristics that distinguish the season of any other, we wish to penetrate into the depths of the mystery that deals with the Church at this time, we find that this mystery of the coming of Jesus Christ together and a triple. It is one, because is the very Son of God who comes three, because he comes in three times and in three ways.

"In the first coming," says St. Bernard on Advent sermon in the fifth, he is in the flesh and infirmity, while the second is in spirit and in power, in the third, is in glory and majesty, and the Second Coming is the means by which we move from first to third.

is the mystery of Advent. Let us now hear the explanation he gives us Peter of Blois to visit this three-fold of Christ, in his third sermon de Adventu: "There are three comings of the Lord, the first in the flesh, the second in the soul, the third with the court. The the first took place in the middle of the night, in the words del Vangelo: Nel cuore della notte si fece sentire un grido: Ecco lo Sposo! E questa prima Venuta è già passata, poiché Cristo è stato visto sulla terra ed ha conversato con gli uomini. Noi ci troviamo ora nella seconda Venuta: purché, tuttavia, siamo tali che egli possa venire a noi; poiché egli ha detto che se lo amiamo, verrà a noi e stabilirà in noi la sua dimora. Questa seconda Venuta è dunque per noi una cosa mista d'incertezza; poiché chi altro fuorché lo Spirito di Dio conosce coloro che sono di Dio? Coloro che il desiderio delle cose celesti trasporta fuor di se stessi, sanno bene quando egli viene; tuttavia, non sanno né donde viene né dove va. Quanto alla terza Venuta, è certissimo which will take place, when the incertissimo: since there is nothing more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the day of death. At the time when we discuss peace and security, says the sage, then death will appear suddenly, as labor pains in the womb of woman, and nobody can escape. The first coming was so humble and hidden, the second is mysterious and full of love, the third will be bright and terrible. In his first coming, Christ was unjustly judged by men, while the second makes us righteous by his grace, in the third, will judge all things fairly: Lamb in the first Coming, Leo the Last, Friend of tenderness in the second "(De Adventu, Sermo iii).

First Coming.

those circumstances, the holy Church, during Advent looks forward to the visit and tears Christ the Redeemer in His first coming. It takes this the ardent expressions of the prophets, which adds to their entreaties. On the lips of the Church, the sighs turned to the Messiah is not a mere commemoration of the ancient people want: they have a value real, effective influence on the great act of generosity of the heavenly Father gave us His Son. From all eternity, the prayers of the ancient people and those of the United Christian Church insieme sono state presenti all'orecchio di Dio; e appunto dopo averle tutte ascoltate ed esaudite, egli ha mandato a suo tempo sulla terra quella rugiada benedetta che ha fatto germogliare il Salvatore.

La seconda Venuta.

La Chiesa aspira anche verso la seconda Venuta, sèguito della prima, e che consiste, come abbiamo visto, nella visita che lo Sposo fa alla Sposa. Ogni anno questa Venuta ha luogo nella festa di Natale e una nuova nascita del Figlio di Dio libera la società dei Fedeli da quel giogo di servitù che il nemico vorrebbe far pesare su di essa (Colletta del giorno di Natale). La Chiesa, durante l'Avvento, chiede di essere visitata da colui che è il suo Capo e il suo Sposo, visitata nella sua gerarchia, nelle sue membra, di cui le une sono vive e le altre morte, ma possono rivivere; infine in quelli che non fanno parte della sua comunione, e negli infedeli stessi, affinché si convertano alla vera luce che splende anche per loro. Le espressioni della Liturgia che la Chiesa usa per sollecitare questa amorosa e invisibile Venuta, sono le stesse con le quali sollecita la venuta del Redentore nella carne; poiché, fatte le debite proporzioni, la situazione è la medesima. Invano il Figlio di Dio sarebbe venuto venti secoli or sono, a visitare e a salvare il genere umano, se non ritornasse, per ciascuno di noi e in ogni momento della nostra esistenza, ad apportare e fomentare quella vita soprannaturale il cui principio viene solo da lui e dal suo divino Spirito.

La terza Venuta.

Ma questa visita annuale dello Sposo non soddisfa la Chiesa; essa aspira alla terza Venuta che consumerà ogni cosa, aprendo le porte dell'eternità. Ha raccolto queste ultime parole dello Sposo: Ecco che io vengo presto (Ap 22,20) e dice con ardore: Vieni, Signore Gesù! (ibid.). Ha fretta di essere liberata dalle condizioni del tempo; sospira il compimento del numero degli eletti, per veder apparire sulle nubi del cielo il segno del suo liberatore e del suo Sposo. Fino a questo punto, dunque, si estende il significato of the votes that it has placed in the liturgy of Advent, this is the explanation of the words of the beloved disciple in his prophecy: Here's the wedding of the Lamb, and the bride has prepared herself (Ap 19.7).

But the arrival of the Bridegroom will be both a terrible day. The Holy Church often trembled at the thought of the formidable sat before which all men will appear. Calls that day "a day of wrath, to whom David and the Sibyl said the world must reduce to ashes; a day of tears and terror." Not that it subject itself, because that day will set forever on his head the crown of the Bride, but her mother's heart suffers from thinking that then several of his children will be left to the judge, and that, deprived of any contact with elected officials, will be thrown with the hands and feet bound in the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth that. That's why in the liturgy of Advent, the Church pauses so often to show the Coming of Christ as a terrible Coming, and chooses the most appropriate steps in the Scriptures to awaken a healthy fear in the souls of those of his children who sleep the sleep sin.

liturgical forms.

This then is the threefold mystery of Advent. Now, the liturgical forms of which is covered, are of two specie: le une consistono nelle preghiere, letture, e altre formule, dove le parole stesse sono usate per rendere i sentimenti che abbiamo esposti; le altre sono riti esteriori adatti a questo tempo sacro e destinati a completare ciò che esprimono i canti e le parole.

Gli occhi del popolo si accorgono della tristezza che preoccupa il cuore della santa Chiesa dal colore di penitenza di cui si copre. Fuorché nelle feste dei Santi, non veste più che di viola; il Diacono depone la Dalmatica, e il Suddiacono la Tunicella. Un tempo anzi, si usava in parecchi luoghi il colore nero, come ad esempio a Tours, a Le Mans, ecc. Questo lutto della Chiesa mette in rilievo con quanta verità essa si unisca ai veri Israeliti che aspettavano il Messia under the ashes and sackcloth, and mourned the death glory of Zion, and "taken the scepter of Judah, until he comes who is to be sent, and what form the expectation of the nations" (Gen 49.10). It still means the works of penance with which prepares for the Second Coming full of sweetness and mystery that takes place in the hearts to the extent that they show sensitive to tenderness that shows their divine that guest who said: I find my delight in being with the children of men (Prov 8:31). It wails on the mountain, like the dove, as long as you do not hear the voice say, "Come from Lebanon, my bride, come: you will be crowned because you've hurt my heart" (Song 5:8).

During Advent, the Church also suspended, except in the Feasts of Saints, the use of the Angelic Hymn: Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in bono voluntatis land pax hominibus. This wonderful song was heard only on the manger in Bethlehem, the heavenly child, the language of the Angels is therefore not yet melted, and the Virgin did not lay aside his divine burden, it is not time to sing, is not accurate to say: "Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to men of good will!
Likewise, at the end of the Sacrifice, the voice of Deacon no longer hear the solemn words that dismiss the congregation: Ite, Missa est. Replaces them with the simple exclamation: Benedicamus Domino! almost that the Church was afraid to interrupt the prayers of the people, who are never too long in these days of waiting.

In the Office of the Night, Holy Church takes away even in these days of jubilee hymn Te Deum laudamus. It waits for the supreme benefit of humility, and waiting can not help but ask, beg, hope. But solemn hour, when in the midst of the most dense shadows, the sun of righteousness will rise suddenly, it will regain the voice of thanksgiving, and the silence of the night will give way, all the earth, the cry of enthusiasm "We praise Thee, O God, Lord, we celebrate! O Christ the King of glory, the eternal Son of the Father for deliverance dell'uomo non hai avuto orrore del seno d'una umile Vergine".

Nei giorni di Feria, prima di concludere ciascun'ora dell'Ufficio, le Rubriche dell'Avvento prescrivono particolari preghiere che si devono fare in ginocchio; anche il Coro deve stare in quella posizione in tali giorni, per una parte considerevole della Messa. Sotto questo aspetto, le usanze dell'Avvento sono del tutto identiche a quelle della Quaresima.

Tuttavia, vi è una caratteristica speciale, che distingue questi due tempi: il canto dell'allegrezza, il gioioso Alleluia, non è sospeso durante l'Avvento, tranne nei giorni di Feria. Nella Messa delle quattro domeniche, si continua a cantarlo; e forma un certo contrasto con il colore austero ornaments. There is also a Sunday, the third, even where the court finds its great and melodious voice, and the sad purple apparatus may for a time give way to pink. This memory of past joys, which is now in the bottom of the sorrows of the holy Church, expressed quite clearly that, while uniting the ancient people, imploring the coming of the Messiah and the pay so great debt of humanity for justice and mercy God, however it does not forget that Emmanuel is already come to her, who is in her, and before it opens its mouth to beg for salvation, is already marked for the redeemed and eternal union. That's why I long to his joining the Alleluia, because sono impresse in lei tutte le gioie e tutte le tristezze, nell'attesa che la gioia sovrabbondi sul dolore, nella notte santa che sarà più radiosa del giorno più fulgido.

Capitolo Terzo

Pratica dell'Avvento

Vigilanza.

Se la santa Chiesa, madre nostra, passa il tempo dell'Avvento in questa solenne preparazione alla triplice Venuta di Gesù Cristo; se, sull'esempio delle vergini wise, keep the lamp lit for the arrival of the Bridegroom, we who are his members and his children, we must attend to the feelings that animate it, and we take that warning of the Saviour: "Let your loins like those of the precinct travelers; shine torches in your hands, and be like servants who await their master "(Lk 12:35). Indeed, the destinies of the Church are also our, each soul is, by God, the object of mercy and of attention similar to those he uses in relation to the Church itself. It is the temple of God because it is made of living stones, is the Bride because it is formed by all the souls who are called to eternal union. If you wrote that the Savior has purchased the Church with his blood (Acts 20:28), each of us can say about himself, as St. Paul: Christ loved me and sacrificed himself for me (Gal 2:20). Since then the same fate, we should strive, during Advent, to enter into the feelings of preparation of which we saw the church filled.

Prayer.

And above all, it is our duty to join the saints of the Act to implore the Messiah, and therefore to meet the debt of all mankind to the divine mercy. In order to encourage us to perform this duty, with the thought in trasportiamoci of those thousands of years represented by four weeks of Advent, and we think that darkness, to those crimes of all kinds in the midst of which stirred the old world. That our hearts must feel deep gratitude to the One who saved her child from death, and who came down to see more closely and share our misery, except the sin! It cries, with the accent of anxiety and confidence, to the One who would save the work of his hands, but also that the man who wants to ask and implore their salvation! That our desires and our hope is, therefore, spread abroad in those ardent prayers of the ancient prophets that the Church puts on our lips these days of waiting. We have our hearts, to the greatest extent possible, the sentiments they express.

Conversion.

accomplished this first task, we will think that the coming of the Savior in our hearts want to do: Coming, as we have seen full of sweetness and mystery, and that is the result of the first, as the Good Shepherd is not only to visit his flock in general, but extends its concern to each of even the hundredth sheep that had strayed. Now, to fully understand all of this ineffable mystery, one must remember that, since we can not agree to our heavenly Father, not as if he sees us Gesù Cristo, suo Figlio, questo Salvatore pieno di bontà si degna di venire in ciascuno di noi, e, se noi lo vogliamo, di trasformarci in lui, di modo che non viviamo più della vita nostra ma della sua. Il fine di tutto il Cristianesimo è appunto di divinizzare l'uomo attraverso Gesù Cristo: questo è il compito sublime imposto alla Chiesa. Essa dice ai Fedeli con san Paolo: "Voi siete i miei figlioletti; poiché io vi do una seconda nascita, affinché si formi in voi Gesù Cristo" (Gal 4,19).

Ma, come nella sua apparizione in questo mondo il divino Salvatore si è dapprincipio mostrato sotto le sembianze d'un bambino prima di giungere alla pienezza dell'età perfetta che era necessaria porche nothing missing in his sacrifice, he intends to take us in the same developments. Now is the feast of Christmas is pleased to be born in the soul, and spreading throughout the Church, a grace of his birth which, unfortunately, not all are believers.

is in fact the situation of the souls at the approach of the unspeakable solemnity. Some of them, and it is the smaller number of fully living the life of the Lord Jesus who is in them, and strive at all times the increase of that life. Other, more numerous, are alive, yes, for the presence of Christ, but they are sick and ailing, not wishing to progress in the divine life, because their love has cooled (Rev 2, 4). The rest men do not enjoy this life and in death is: because Christ said: I am the Life (Jn 14:6).

In the days of Advent, the Savior went to knock on the door of every soul, in a manner sensitive hours, now hidden. Is to ask if they have room for him, that he may be born in them. But Benito is the house that he calls his, because he has built and maintains, complained that his own did not want to receive (Jn 1:11), at least as many among them. "As for those who have received has allowed them to become children of God, and no longer children of the flesh and blood" (Jn 1, 12-13).

So get ready to see him come in you more beautiful, brighter, louder as you know, or faithful souls who kept to yourself as a precious deposit, and that long, you have no other life than his, that his heart more, other his works. Know, understand, in the words of the liturgy, that make for your love, and that moves the heart of the Bridegroom.

Open the doors to receive him in his second coming, that you already had in you, but do not know him that owned it, but without tasting it. He returns with a new tenderness forgot your refusal, he wants to make all things new (Revelation 21:5). Give place to the heavenly Child, who wants to grow in you. The time is near that vostro cuore dunque si desti; perché non vi abbia sorpreso il sonno quando egli passerà, vegliate e pregate. Le parole della Liturgia sono anche per voi, perché esse parlano di tenebre che Dio solo può dissipare, di piaghe che solo la sua bontà può risanare, di languori che cesseranno solo per sua virtù.

E voi, cristiani, per cui la buona novella è come se non ci fosse perché i vostri cuori sono morti per il peccato, sia che questa morte vi tenga stretti nei suoi lacci da lunghi anni, sia che la ferita che l'ha causata sia stata inferta più di recente alla vostra anima, ecco venire colui che è la vita. "Perché dunque vorreste morire? Egli non vuole la morte del peccatore, ma vuole che si converted and live "(Ez 18.31). The great feast of his birth will be a day of universal compassion for all who desire to be admitted. They started to live with him above all other life will be abolished, and the grace there sovrabbonderà where he took the iniquity abound (Romans 5:29).

And if the tenderness and sweetness of this mysterious Coming attract there, because your heart can not yet understand or trust for a long time because, having swallowed the ' iniquity like water, you do not know what it means to aspire to the caresses of love by a father whom he had despised the invitations, think of the Coming full of terror that will follow that si compie silenziosamente nelle anime. Sentite lo scricchiolio dell'universo all'avvicinarsi del terribile Giudice; osservate i cieli che fuggono davanti a lui, e si aprono come un libro alla sua vista (Ap 6,41); sostenete, se ne siete capaci, il suo aspetto, i suoi sguardi fiammeggianti; guardate senza fremere la spada a doppio taglio che esce dalla sua bocca (Ap 1,16); ascoltate infine quelle grida di lamento: o monti cadete su di noi; rocce, copriteci, toglieteci alla sua vista terrificante (Lc 23,30)! Sono le grida che faranno risuonare invano le anime sventurate che non hanno saputo conoscere il tempo della visita (Lc 19,44). Per aver chiuso il loro cuore a quell'Uomo-Dio che pianse su di esse – tanto le amava! – lives will fall into the eternal fire whose flame is burning so that eats the seeds of the earth and the foundations of the mountains hidden (Dt 32.22). There is a feeling of eternal remorse the worm that never dies (Mark 9.43).

Those then, who do not feel moved by the sweet news of the approach of the heavenly Physician of generous Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep, meditate during Advent on the terrible and yet undeniable mystery of redemption, made useless by the refusal that man gives too often bind to their salvation. Scoop their forces, and if you despise the child being born (Isaiah 9:6), think about whether they will be able to fight with the mighty God, the day will no longer to save, but to judge. To know him more closely, the judge before whom all must tremble, they should ask the Sacred Liturgy: here you will learn to fear it.

Moreover, this concern is not only typical of sinners is a feeling that every Christian should try. The fear, if it is alone, enslaves, if it compensates for love, agrees to guilty son, looking for forgiveness of his father angry, even when love drives him out (1 Jn 4:18), it sometimes returns as a sudden flash, and the faithful heart is happy being shaken to its foundations. Then feels reawakening the memory of his misery and mercy free the Bridegroom. So no one should despair, in this holy season of Advent, from associating to the pious concerns of the Church, as loved, he says frequently in his offices: Pierce my flesh, O Lord, with the sting of your fear! But this part of the liturgy will be especially useful to those who are beginning to devote himself to serving God

From this, one must conclude that Advent is a time devoted primarily to the years of life Purification, as indicated by the words of St. John Baptist, the Church tells us so often in this sacred period: Prepare the way of the Lord! Each operates so seriously to pave the path by which Jesus enters into his soul. The righteous, according to the teaching of the forget ciò che hanno fatto nel passato (Fil 3,13), e attendano a nuovi impegni. I peccatori cerchino di rompere subito i legami che li tengono stretti, di lasciare le abitudini che li fanno prigionieri castighino la carne, e diano inizio al duro lavoro di sottometterla allo spirito; preghino soprattutto con la Chiesa; e quando il Signore verrà, potranno sperare che non rimarrà sulla soglia della porta, ma entrerà, perché egli ha detto: "Ecco che io sono alla porta e busso; se qualcuno sente la mia voce e mi apre, entrerò da lui" (Ap 3,20).

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[1] Dal latino Adventus, che significa Venuta.

[2] La proclamazione del dogma della Maternità divina, avvenuta ad Ephesus in 431, gave impetus to the Marian cult and live a great celebrity in the commemoration of the Nativity of the Lord. It is just after the Council of Nicaea (325) that the Roman Church instituted the feast of Christmas and stared at December 25, but it's the East that drew the first elements of Advent.

[3] According to the latest work of the liturgical year, we can report is much older than this. Thus, a fragment of a text by Hilary, then prior to 366, says that "the Church has the annual return of the coming of the Savior, with a mysterious time of three weeks." The Council of Saragossa, for his part, since the 380 requires the faithful to attend to the offices from 17 December to 6 January. In this period of twenty-one days, the part before the Christmas formed a framework well suited for the preparation of this festival and was a kind of Advent. But since he had introduced the use, in the fourth century, to consider the Epiphany and Christmas Day the same as baptism could only be here for a preparation for baptism and a liturgy of Advent.

In the East, in the fifth century, Ravenna, in Gaul and Spain, a festival of the Virgin was celebrated on the Sunday before Christmas, and sometimes also a celebration of the Precursor on the Sunday before . It was here, a brief preparation for Christmas, Advent is a primitive, unless it is a simple extension of the Christmas party. Finally, the Scroll of Ravenna, of which St. Peter is a perpetrator Crisologo (433-450), has 40 prayers that can be considered as preparatory to Christmas.

[4] Also note that this fast was not really the time of Advent, because, between Pentecost and the middle of February, the faithful fasted twice a week three times and the monks. The penitential character of Advent derived little by little, because of the analogy that occurs naturally between this season and Lent.

[5] Perhaps the fasting existed in Spain at that time. A letter of about 400, speaks of ending three weeks and begin a new year, including the Christmas party and the Epiphany, at which agreed to give back and to the practices of asceticism, prayer and abstinence (Rev. Ben. 1928, p. 289). The churches of the East and West received the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord, also adopted in the eighth century, the Advent fast.

[6] The Council of Avranches (1172) requires fasting and abstinence to all those who will, especially clerics and soldiers.

[7] We can now establish a much more detailed development of the Liturgy of Advent. While the Sacramentary lions (Late sixth century) does not carry any mass, suggesting that at that time Roma were still ignorant of the Advent, the Sacramentary Gelasian old (late sixth and early seventh century) contains five harvest "De adventu Domini." The Sacramentary Gelasian d'Angoulême and other sacramentaries eighth century, they also contain five masses, or more than the three masses of Ember December. Finally, in the Gregorian Sacramentary, we find masses for four Sundays and three holidays of Ember. Perhaps even putting the last Sunday after Pentecost was seen as putting "de Adventu. Finally add St. Benedict († after 546) wrote in his Rule, a chapter on Lent speaking of the Easter but no mention of the Advent.

[8] note that the Mozarabic Sacramentary: Liber mozarabicus sacramentorum (the ninth century, but that is the liturgy of the seventh), contains five Sundays, and finally, that the Gallican Lectionaries lead six Sundays of Advent.

Taken from Dom Prosper Guéranger, The liturgical year . - I. Advent - Christmas - Lent - Passion , trans. com. P. Graziani, Dawn, 1959, p. 21-35