Preparing the Way for Christ: An Advent Series (Part I)
-
December 3, 2025
Dec 3, 2025 byWe begin this season of Advent now in this first week, and I thought it would be useful to reflect a little on the season itself—what Advent means, and why we have this time of preparation for Christmas.
The term Advent comes from Adventus, which means “coming” or “arrival.” In Greek, it refers to the coming of Christ. During this time, we look forward to the three comings of Christ.
First, we recall His historical coming in the flesh—His birth in Bethlehem. Second, we look ahead to His coming in glory at the end of time, when He will rule over all creation. And third, we prepare for His coming into our hearts here and now at Christmas.
This third coming—Christ entering our hearts—is perhaps the most important meaning of the season.
Pope Benedict XVI once reflected on this when he spoke of how, as a child, he was told that the candles of the Advent wreath symbolized the light shining in the darkness before the coming of Christ, and the wreath itself represented the dark ages before His arrival. But Benedict asked: how can we call these last centuries, filled with destruction, death, and horror, “ages of light,” and those before Christ “ages of darkness”?He concluded that we cannot. The darkness of sin and suffering is still very real in our world. Advent, therefore, is not something merely from the past—not simply a season that pointed toward Christ’s birth long ago.
Advent is now.
We are living in a time of Advent. The Church herself lives in Advent. Christianity itself is Advent.We walk as pilgrims through this world, carrying our small candles through the darkness, waiting for the great light that is to come—Christ’s final return and our own encounter with Him at the end of our lives. That is the true direction of our hope.
Reminiscent of Solzhenitsyn, Benedict said that Advent runs through every human heart. Each of us carries within ourselves that line between darkness and light, and our task is to live in the spirit of Advent: the spirit of expectation, of waiting, of hope, of light shining in the darkness.
That is what this season is about. It is a time of preparation.
From as early as the 5th century, Christians observed Advent as a time of fasting. It was called the “Christmas Fast” or “St. Martin’s Fast,” and people would fast three times a week—or even daily—in preparation for Christmas. Eastern Christians still keep this discipline today, but in the West we have largely lost it.
It is worth recovering something of that spirit—not just by giving up chocolate or coffee, but by truly asking: What am I going to do to prepare my life for Christ? How will I make my light shine in the world?
Perhaps fasting from food is not what the Lord is asking of you. Perhaps it is something else—something that stands as an obstacle in your daily life. Maybe it’s the way you use your phone or social media, or the time you waste on TV, or a habit of distraction or resentment.
These are the things we can fast from—not for the sake of deprivation, but to make space in our lives and hearts for Christ to come in.
That is the work of Advent: to prepare the way of the Lord within ourselves.
We do not live in a time of perfection—we live in a time of pilgrimage, a time of Advent. And our call, each of us, is to be one of those candles on the Advent wreath: shining in the darkness, bringing real light to the world.
Those lights we kindle each week are not merely symbolic. They are meant to represent us—our lives, our presence in the world, shining with the light of Christ.
As we begin this Advent season, let us ask ourselves: What is one thing I can do to prepare the way of the Lord? How can I make more room for Christ to enter my life this Christmas?
If we live with that spirit of hope and readiness, we won’t just celebrate an external Christmas—we will truly enter into its meaning, letting Christ be born anew in our hearts.
