Advent has begun. Below you will find an article I wrote - it's an overview of the season, and an explanation of some Advent traditions. Hopefully, it will help you prepare for the Coming of Christ this Christmas.
  
Advent Blessings!

Fr. John Cusick
Director, Young Adult Ministry Office, Archdiocese of Chicago & Founder, Theology on Tap

 Advent wreath
Taize PrayerAdvent: A Time to be 
Spiritually Counter-Cultural
 
As good as American life is for many of us, but certainly not for all, there are times when it is just not enough. We need something more. There are experiences, situations and even laws that clash with our values. They are just plain wrong.
 
Even when we appear "successful" according to the American Dream, we are restless and searching for something more.
 
We are searching for meaning in an ever changing world. We keep looking for life in abundance and not merely survival.
 
We want to move beyond conforming and living the way it has always been done, into a fuller life. We are looking for something more.
 
One of the great values of our Catholic faith is that it presents us with a more meaningful, richer and deeper sense of life than does the culture. The spiritual traditions of Catholicism invite us to explore a way to live that was offered to the world by the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
That is clearly visible to us during the last month of the year - the 4 weeks before Christmas known as Advent.
 
Interestingly, the last month of the civil calendar is the very first month of the Church calendar. The world is ending something. We Catholics are beginning something. The first Sunday of Advent, this year November 29th, is the first day of the Catholic new year.
 
The entire Church year is built around the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, we begin the new year in Advent. Loosely defined, Advent means to come. Our year begins looking for Christ to come among us. That event, Christ coming among us, is celebrated at Christmas. The new year begins with a 4 week period of preparation for the advent - the coming - of Christ.
 
This preparation time is almost totally opposite what is happening in the popular culture. Hence, this is the time for us to follow the lead of our ancestors-in-faith and practice some counter-culture spirituality. 
 
Therefore, during these Advent weeks, the four weeks leading up to the Feast of the Unconquerable Son, let us continue to do what our ancestors began so many centuries ago. Let's be spiritually counter-cultural!
 
Advent Altar Festive - Subdued 
 
Nearly everywhere we go these days, the festivity of Christmas can be seen and heard: Christmas trees, inside and outside; decorated houses with lights and figures; Christmas music in the malls, stores and on select radio stations, all reflect a joy and celebrative mood.
 
Yet in our churches, there are no Christmas carols or Christmas trees... just yet. The crib is not there yet. The poinsettias are for later. We're not visually excited by  blinking lights or shiny streams of garland. Our colors are not silver and gold, red and green; we decorate simply with purple or blue. The mood is more subdued and reflective. The music is filled with longing, hopeful anticipation. We await the coming of the Lord. We long for a divine presence to touch and lift up a world in need of hope and life.
 
We are invited to be reflective in our own lives for a few weeks.
Where do we look for the Lord in December 2009?
Who are the people and what are the experiences that reveal the advent of Christ to us? At such a busy, noisy and active time of the year, can we be still for a few minutes every day and reflect on the meaning of Christ in our lives?
Can we slow down for just a few minutes each advent day and listen to God's Spirit within us?  Can we focus on what is important - rather than what is popular? 
 
 
Candle Darkness - Light
 
The contrast of darkness and light are two great themes in many religions. At this time of the year, our Church uses darkness and light as great tools for our spiritual lives. The images of darkness and light are used weekly the make us aware of Advent - the coming of Christ.
 
These four Advent weeks are the darkest weeks of the year. There is less sunlight/daylight with each passing day. Yet, at Sunday Mass we light another candle with each passing week - culminating with four candles burning brightly on the Sunday before Christmas. As the world gets darker all around us, we add more light. Why? Easy. It is our absolute conviction that darkness will not win out. The light we believe in, the Light of the World, will conquer darkness. Facing all the darkness found in the popular culture, the violence, bitterness, animosity, mean-spiritedness, fear, grudges, discrimination, prejudice, injustice, the abuse... will not own the day. The Light of the World will conquer and overcome the darkness. More life, not less, will burn brightly and will be seen by all.
 
So on these dark December days and long nights, we need to recall who Christ said we are: "You are the light of the world."  (Matt 5:14) That's us! When we see an Advent candle being lit or we light one ourselves, remember that call of Christ. This day, this week, this Advent season, in the dark of each December day, how will each of us be counter-cultural?  How will we be a Light in the face of the darkness to which we are exposed? 
evergreen branchesChanging - Evergreen 
 
"Here today; gone tomorrow" is a mantra reflective of the world in which we live. Change is happening so fast. Who heard of Facebook five years ago? As popular at the i-phone is today, do you think it will still be cutting edge in three to five years? As deep and dark as this recession is right now, most everyone believes it will turn around in the next two years. These are just some of the indicators that everything is in motion. Some have said that the only stability is change!
 
Is there any consistency? Is there any faithfulness? In a quickly changing world, is there anything you can count on?
 
There are two religious symbols during advent that say, "Yes, there is faithfulness and consistency in our very midst." They are the Advent wreath, and how it is decorated. The earliest advent wreaths are reported to have been wagon wheels, flipped on their side with four candles (one for each week of the darkest time of the year). The wheel was wrapped with evergreen tree branches. Can you see the symbolism? A wagon wheel, just like a ring, is a perfect circle. It has no beginning and no end. That is one of our God-symbols. "I am with you always, even to the end of time." No beginning and no end - but always there for you.
 
The evergreen branches are just that "ever"green. The other trees turn barren. The flowers die off. The grass becomes brown. The soft earth is rock-solid frozen. This time of the year, everything changes... except the evergreen trees. Focus on the color surrounding the Advent Wreathe. It is always the same in an ever-changing world.
 
When we enter into Advent, we are seeking that divine presence that is always, always present in those grace-filled acts of kindness, charity, generosity and forgiveness. It is the incarnation of God in Jesus - Emmanuel, God-with-us.
 
When you see that wreath with its evergreen branches, do you believe in our ever-present Lord? Where do you see Jesus this Advent day? How do you make that ever-present Christ visible to someone else this season?
 
Keep in mind what you hear and say when you receive Communion: "The Body of Christ." "Amen!" Our ever-present Lord in an always changing world. It's Advent. Come, Lord Jesus.
shareCelebration - Action
 
It's a party time of the year. Let's also make it an action time of the year. During the "holidays" we find ourselves celebrating with family, friends, and colleagues. We might receive invitations to Christmas parties from a variety of sources.
 
With this year's celebration, let's include an opportunity to celebrate being generous, helping others, calling those who need a pick-me-up, writing (not emailing!) a nice note to someone we know for whom this year has been particularly difficult.
 
If it is a difficult time for you - maybe you are out of work or afraid of losing your job very soon, down on your luck, feeling a bit lonely - you can still help someone else. Even if it is a small donation to help someone who is even less fortunate than you, you can make a big difference. Remember it is not the quantity. It is the action of Christ moving through you to touch another son or daughter of God. There is a very good chance that you will feel a bit better, because of the action you have taken. It's Advent. Come, Lord Jesus. 
 
Baby Jesus by jajohnson8 The Return of the Sun/Return of the Son
 
 
One of the most amazing counter-cultural spiritual realities of this time of the year is what happens when Advent ends: Christmas!
 
We really do not know the exact date that Christ was born of Mary. For our religious ancestors in the early centuries of our Church, the positioning of Christmas on December 25th was a powerful counter-cultural symbol.
 
The popular culture at that time celebrated the Feast of the Unconquerable Sun, Sol Invictus as the Romans called it. They celebrated the return of the sun. On or around December 25, after experiencing the least amount of day light on December 21st, the sun began to "return" to the northern sky. When it did, the frozen earth would thaw, the seeds would be sown, the trees would bear their fruit and the human community would survive for another year.
 
What they needed most was the sun. Without the returning sun, there would not have life. Hence the December 25th celebration of the Return of the Sun, Sol Invictus - the Unconquerable sun!
 
Can you sense where this is going? Can you see how those early followers of Christ chose December 25th as a day and a celebration what was counter to the culture in which they lived?
 
Do we need the sun to survive and have life? Yes, we do. We need the Son more than anything to be fully alive!
 
"The return of the sun" transformed over many years into "the return of the Son" - Christmas Day, the Feast of the Unconquerable Son of God.
 
 Winter Scene
 

And So...

with advertising blitzes telling us what we need and the great "sales" that will help us buy it, let's pause and answer this question, "What do I really need to be fully alive?" Exactly what do we need? We need Christ in our lives and in this dark world. We need to bring Christ to others, especially those less fortunate than we are. We need to bear witness by the actions of our lives that Christ is among us. We need to recognize and bear witness that the Advent of Christ can change the face of the earth. Where there is darkness, we will be the "Light of the world." In a "here-today, gone-tomorrow" world, we will be bearers of Christ, who offers healing to people's brokenness, compassion to human indifference and The Body of Christ to the spiritually hungry.
 
When you attend Mass this Advent, listen to the prayers, songs, Scripture, and preaching for messages of hope, life, and love. Fully enter this sacred season of hopeful expectation, for the Lord is near. Attentively watch the Light grow brighter each week, and be conscious of the evergreen branches that are wrapped around the light. After you leave Mass filled with the Body of Christ, it's time to let the world know what we all really need - the Unconquerable Son.
 
Have a great, spiritually counter-cultural Advent!