Wired,
Without quoting your entire message, I beg to disagree with you. Each parish, pastor, priest, preacher, publication indeed has a different “take” on what the Church is “anticipating” during Advent. We are “reliving” Salvation history; and, just as on Good Friday and at Easter, when we are actually present at the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, on Christmas we are actually present at His Birth. In the good-old-days, however, when everyone erroneously also referred to the Birth of Jesus as His Coming – Jesus’ Incarnation was referred to synonymously as His Birth.
It is not just nitpicking to be scandalized by such heretical thinking. Many have come to realize this and have tried to transfer our rationale for Advent – preparation – to something equally pious. Thus, I have heard on EWTN that Christmas is a combination of celebrating Jesus’ Birth, looking forward to the Second Coming, and rediscovering Jesus in our own lives. In most parishes and most priests pick one of the above.
If Jesus did not “come,” i.e., become Man when He was born
(He had already been with us for nine months!) it is my feeling that on Christmas we should celebrate the fact --the totally awesome fact – that that was the Day when mankind first saw the Face of God! Let Advent be regarded as a preparation for whatever one wants it to be.
Perhaps there could be a liturgical preparation for the Incarnation during Lent, when it would be historically and liturgically correct. How could thinking about the Word Made Flesh detract from the penitential season leading up to His Death? Each event would be more poignant.
It is simply intolerable, in an era when we should be focusing on ridding the nation and the world of the evil of abortion, that the Church prevaricates, even if unintentionally and with every good pastoral intention, as to the meaning – and the timing – of the Incarnation.
Every good abortionist hopes that well-meaning people will overlook the fact that human life begins at conception. If the Church overlooks and misidentifies the moment when God Became Man, it is contributing to the overall atmosphere that keeps abortion viable.
If the Church in Her wisdom feels that the Birth of Jesus should be equated with His Incarnation, I will defer to that judgment. If, however, the Church is merely conveniently following erroneous tradition and is trying to establish new foundations for making Advent, and Christmas itself, liturgically more important that the Annunciation, I prefer to give primacy to the day when Jesus comes into this world – the time our Salvation is with us, the day awaited by generations since the Fall – and I prefer to prepare for that day even if it does occur during Lent. My Christmas celebration will be single-minded: behold, we can see the Face of God!
A similar event erroneously co-celebrated with Christmas is the Epiphany. I guess it is the gifts of the Magi. Hopefully every parish keeps the Wise Men in storage until the time when they should appear at the end of Christmas. No wonder Christmas became the feast second only to Easter (is Pentecost second, I forget) – it was three feasts in one!
