Remembering Christ Present
For centuries, the meaning of Advent and the focus of its celebration have been debated. In sixth-century Rome, Advent was, first and foremost, a time of preparation for the solemnity of the coming of the Lord. Gregory the Great focused mainly on the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ, because this historical event marked the beginning of salvation. In Gaul, the focus was primarily eschatological, emphasizing the need for penance and readiness for the final judgment (Adolf Adam, The Liturgical Year: Its History and Its Meaning After the Reform of the Liturgy, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990, p. 130). However, the General Norms for the Liturgical Year suggests both history and eschatology must be held in tension together: "The season of Advent has a twofold character. It is a time of preparation for Christ when the first coming of God's Son to men is recalled. It is also a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ's second coming at the end of time. It is thus a season of joyful expectation" (GNLY, 39). Christians are challenged to think beyond the event of Christ's Incarnation, to think forward with eschatological hope to the day when Christ will come again and they will receive the fulfillment of salvation.

With the commercialism of the day, the last thing on the minds of many of the faithful is celebrating the Christ present in Advent. Advent spirituality needs a renewal, so that the four weeks prior to Christmas celebrate time both historically and eschatologically. However, the historical and eschatological dimensions overlook one key element in the faith lives of the community today: the present. The present is the bridge that connects history with eschatological hope and represents the missing link in a contemporary spirituality of Advent.

Martin Connell suggests the word "Advent" does not merely refer to the historical Incarnation of Christ but also to the theological advents of Christ. Throughout the scriptures, all sorts of "comings" of Christ can be observed: the Annunciation, the wedding at Cana, and the road to Emmaus. In each of these events, we see that people are transformed as Jesus is revealed in a new way. These biblical accounts are little advents, little comings of Christ in and of themselves. As the Church comes together to celebrate Advent, we must consider how these accounts of Christ's manifestations in everyday life speak to the people of God now. Connell suggests,

In a liturgical frame of mind, we might move beyond the historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, but still celebrate an "incarnation," a coming of Christ in the community gathered to celebrate Initiation and Eucharist. This is indeed an adventus of the presence of God manifest in the hearts and bodies of the faithful in the Church and in the world. (Martin Connell, "The Origins and Evolution of Advent in the West," Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year, ed. Maxwell E. Johnson, Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 352)

Bringing the present into Advent spirituality beckons the people of God to recognize the always-present Christ. Connell comments, "Often Advent preaching posits that the Son of God was once fully present and will, at the end of time, be fully present again. This kind of theology, sometimes called 'already but not yet,' can be a consolation to believers who do not feel that God or the risen Christ is present and active in their lives" (Martin Conell, Eternity Today: On the Liturgical Year, Vol. 1, On God and Time, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Candlemas, New York: Continuum, 2006, p. 74). During Advent, however, preaching should focus on the constant awareness of the Spirit, the Christ that is alive and within us. The Colossians hymn reminds us that we are a Christic creation: "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created. . . . He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians, 1:15-17). Christ is at the core of our very being; we are made in the very image of God who created us and therefore are always in the presence of Christ.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy expresses Christ present in liturgies: "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in liturgical celebrations" (CSL, 7). On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B, the Annunciation speaks of the everlasting reign of Jesus and the kingdom: "And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:31, 33). Within these statements is a truth that we do not always remember: Christ is eternally present, through the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Bringing the Christ present into a spirituality of Advent is the necessary link between history and eschatology. The season of Advent beckons the people of God to be prepared, recalling how God has saved in the past, how God sustains, and how God in the end will fulfill salvation.

Presently Waiting
The faithful remember the past, celebrate the present, and look toward the future while awaiting the Second Coming in joyful hope. For much of Western society, and especially for the younger generations, waiting has become a foreign concept. Missing from our culture is this sense of waiting on and for each other. Because of our impatience, we lack the pastoral care to sit and wait with loved ones who are in pain and we lack ability to recognize someone in need. We have forgotten to recognize the Christ present in one another; to recognize the covenant relationship that we all share as inhabitants of this earth.

Recognizing Christ in one another and the world around us takes both time and waiting. On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus is revealed to the disciples in the breaking of the bread, they are filled with hope and immediately run back to Jerusalem. What would this story have looked like if they had sped past the stranger they met on the road? Indeed, there would be no story to tell. Through the disciples' active waiting, another advent takes place: the risen Christ is revealed, and the disciples are transformed and elevated to a new level of faith and understanding. The people of God, like the disciples, must take time to share the mystery of our faith together along the journey. It is through this time of waiting that we are prepared for the manifestations of Christ that we encounter in our everyday lives as we await the eschaton.

Alexander calls such moments as the disciples on the road to Emmaus "holy waiting." He explains, "Few things are more important for the continuing growth and renewal of Christian life and faith today than the recovery of a profound sense of holy waiting . . . . This is not an appeal to waste time with meaningless inactivity, but a call to engage one's vocation, one's relationships, one's hope, one's life in God, in an active presence, a holy waiting" (J. Neil Alexander, The Liturgical Meaning of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Waiting for the Coming, Pastoral Press: Washington, D.C., 1993, p. 1).

What does this holy waiting look like in liturgical life? While waiting in joyful hope for the Second Coming, the faithful must take time with scripture, prayer, and being with each other. In scripture, prayer, and community, we recognize the Christ present in our everyday lives. In our holy waiting, we are transformed and become a people who are ready to "prepare the way of the Lord" and "make straight his paths" (Mark 1:3). Liturgies must convey the sense of active holy waiting for us to reflect on our past, participate in the present, and prepare for the future.

Liturgy of the Hours and Advent Prayer
Robert Taft observes that the Liturgy of the Hours is a biblical, traditional, and objective form of prayer in the Church: biblical because it is rooted in scripture (both Old and New Testament); traditional because the Hours has been celebrated since the beginning of Christianity; and objective, because through scripture and tradition, the Hours helps Christians enter into the Paschal Mystery of Christ (Robert F. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in the East and West, second revised edition, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993, p. 367). Taft states: "Liturgy of the Hours is a true and efficacious encounter with the Father through Jesus in the Spirit, as long as our hearts remain open to respond in faith to this ecclesial sign of the unending divine call echoing through the ages in the rites of the church." Because the Hours celebrates this encounter with Christ present, it complements the season of Advent: "Since the central mystery of the Advent season . . . is precisely the experience of time-past, present and future-as filled with the promise of God, Hours and season combine and reinforce one another in an exceptionally powerful way, and together offer us a unified symbolic framework"(Sean Collins, "The Liturgy of the Hours in Advent," Celebrating the Season of Advent, ed. Eltin Griffin, Blackrock: Columbia Press, 244, p. 100). Recovering the tradition of communal Evening Prayer provides a platform for the active holy waiting that Advent involves. The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours during Advent, then, is synergistic; they complement each other, recognizing Christ in the past, the present, and the holy waiting for the future. Similar themes abound in the season of Advent and the Liturgy of the Hours. Three major themes that they share are time, light, and eschatology.

One goal of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was to revise and restore the Liturgy of the Hours to the people of God: "The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the Divine Office either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually" (CSL, 100). Today, however, the Divine Office remains a standard form of prayer only in seminaries and for clergy, rather than at the heart of the parish daily prayer life. George Guiver suggests the lack of interest in this prayer of the Church rests on the issue of time. Much like Western society's inability to wait, people are too busy to carve out time for prayer and reflection. Guiver suggests, "Apart from our enervated experience of the flow of time, daily routines and schedules nowadays are such that a twofold public office evolved in ancient times can match up to the timetables of relatively few people" (George Guiver, Company of Voices: Daily Prayer and the People of God, Collegeville: Pueblo, 1988, p. 198). The truth is, in this post-modern society, the Liturgy of the Hours has not found a place in daily lives because people have not found the time to pray in community throughout the day. Time is an internal link between Advent and the celebration of the Hours; both require taking time out to intentionally pray. By taking advantage of this internal link of time, a parish can commit to celebrate a four-week long Sunday vespers during Advent.

The theme of light also links Evening Prayer and Advent. At Evening Prayer in ancient times, the Lucernarium was at the beginning of every service to signify Christ as light and hope of the world. This festival of light includes the lighting of all the lamps and a prayer or hymn of thanksgiving for the light. In Advent, the Church prepares for the light of the world, Jesus, the savior. The Gospel of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year B, proclaims: "He (John the Baptist) came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light" (John 1:7-8). A community takes time to light a new candle on the Advent wreath each week, giving, "expression to the hope and longing of the people of the Old Covenant for a redeemer, and the gradual realization of God's promises through the prophets and finally John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary" (Vincent Ryan, "Origins and Development of Advent," Celebrating the Season of Advent, ed. Eltin Griffin, Blackrock: Columbia Press, 2004, p. 20). By emphasizing the common element of light, a Lucernarium in Advent takes the form of a ritual blessing and lighting of the Advent wreath, thanking God for the true light, Jesus Christ. These rituals blend together and are another element that synergizes the Hours and Advent.

Evening Prayer and Advent also flow well together because of their eschatological natures. Liturgy is an expression of the presence of Christ with us today and forever; the Liturgy of the Hours, especially the hour of Vespers, speaks directly to this eschatological nature of Christ present today. Taft states, "The end time is not in the future but now. And, it is operative now, though not exclusively, through the anamnesis in word and sacrament of the dynamic present reality of Emmanuel, 'God-with-us,' through the power of the spirit in every age" (Taft, p. 337). Likewise, Advent celebrates "God-with-us" or Christ present. It is a time to prepare not only for the Second Coming but for the end of personal life. On the First Sunday of Advent, Year B, the Gospel of Mark cries out, "Of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come" (Mark 13:32-33). Through the celebration of Evening Prayer in Advent, Christians have time to focus, to prepare and to actively wait: "Advent is a time of reckoning, when a believer, the parish, or the Church universal might face their ends, might prepare for death. Only in a posture of preparedness can one truly celebrate the life incarnate in the Son" (Connell, p. 77). In this time of Advent, Christians face their own ends and come to terms with the finality of life, but they also rest in the eternal hope of Jesus as Savior, who was, who is, and who will come.

The connections between Evening Prayer and Advent are many. Through time, light, and eschatology, a celebration of Evening Prayer can enhance the season of Advent and help a community come together to celebrate Christ present while waiting in joyful hope for the future.

Scriptural Implementation
Because the Hours and Advent bear strikingly similar themes, celebrating the Hours during Advent is a palpable way to pray and prepare for the feast of Christmas. In a parish setting, it would be possible to celebrate Sunday Evening Prayer for the four Sundays in Advent. This introduction of Evening Prayer into the parish would take catechesis and mystagogia; but it would be an effective way for parishioners to begin to pray the Hours in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. Through prayer, word, and song, the Hours can communicate the theology of Advent that is clearly defined: celebrating the Christ past, present, and future, while engaging in an active holy waiting for the Second Coming.

In 1971, the structure and content of the Liturgy of the Hours was revised. Focusing on scriptural elements, there are two psalms, one New Testament canticle, and one scripture reading in the revised form. Evening Prayer follows the following structure: opening verse, hymn, psalmody (two psalms and a New Testament canticle), scripture, short response, Magnificat, prayers and intercessions, concluding collect, and blessing.

The new Breviary also has prescribed antiphons, psalms, and readings for these Sundays in Advent. In an effort to stay true to the Christ present model of Advent, different scriptural content will be used for each of these services. The main focus for these services will be recognizing and waiting for the many ways in which Christ advents into the present lives of the faithful.

The psalms and canticles play a pivotal role in Evening Prayer. Psalms should focus on the people of God waiting, praying, and envisioning the coming of Christ into our lives. Proclamation of the psalms and canticles should be done musically or antiphonally, in a way that promotes active participation of the community. Psalms 122, 72, 89, 98, and 80 are among the psalms that encourage Advent spirituality. Passages from Isaiah could be substituted for psalms in order to compensate for the omission of passages from Isaiah in the scripture element of Evening Prayer. Passages from Isaiah that support the Advent theme are found in any of the Sunday Advent readings, especially, Isaiah 2:1-5, Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 63:16-17, and Isaiah 61:1-12. The New Testament canticle concludes the psalmody portion of the Office and the use of the book of Revelation, for each New Testament canticle adds another eschatological element to each service. Passages that support Advent spirituality in the book of Revelation are Revelation 4:11, 5:10-12; Revelation 11:17-18; Revelation 15:3-4; and Revelation 19:1-7. All of these passages call the people of God into a recognition of Christ present while waiting in joyful hope for the Second Coming. A detailed list of all possible passages and thematic content is provided at the end of this article.

The scriptural framework for these services will be four Gospel readings that manifest Christ in the lives of the early Church: the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12), the raising of Lazarus (John 11:17-27; 38-43), and the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Each of these biblical accounts contains an advent of Christ present within the early Church. As such, they are good starting points for a reflection on how Christ advents into the daily lives of the people of God today. Reflections given after each of these readings should focus on the particular advent of Christ in each account, how the people waited for Christ, and how the manifestation of Christ transformed the people. Similarly, Christians should draw from their experiences and be challenged to recognize how Christ is working in their lives, how they await, and how Christ's manifestation transforms them and their eschatological hope.

The Magnificat follows the psalmody and scripture. It is readily apparent that the prayer of the Magnificat encompasses Advent spirituality: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior" (Luke 1:46-47). Is not this rejoicing an effect of active, holy waiting? In the season of Advent, the faithful wait joyfully, crying out the wonderful deeds God has done for all generations. The Magnificat in Advent Evening Prayer is a climactic moment of everything we celebrate in our Advent season.

Scripture, psalms, and canticles are only the beginning of creating an Evening Prayer during Advent that reflects a contemporary spirituality. Music and prayers also should reflect Christ present and active holy waiting through eschatological hope. The elements of music and prayer should flow naturally from the scriptures for each service and should lead to further reflections on the season.

When preparing a series of vespers for an Advent assembly, care must be taken to ensure that parishioners know and understand the Divine Office. Therefore, an important element in implementing the Liturgy of the Hours in a parish is catechesis and mystagogia. An effort should be made to teach parishioners how to pray the Hours and to introduce them to this rhythm of prayer. Through mystagogia, experiences of prayer can be unpacked and expounded upon. Mystagogia helps an assembly enter into the mystery of the Hours and can enhance their experience of prayer. By taking time to catechize and call the assembly to a place where they can engage in holy waiting, the season of Advent can transform the body of Christ into a living, acting, and awaiting society.

Conclusion
In this commercial society, it is imperative that the people of God take time out to "Prepare a way for the Lord" (Mark 1:3). This way needs to be cultivated, nurtured, and active within the spiritual lives of the people of God. Through scripture, prayer, and community, Christians begin to recognize Christ present in the way. By focusing not only on the past, but also on Christ present in the journey and in the eschatological future, Advent becomes a season of joyful expectation. It becomes a season when Christians examine and cultivate the many ways in which Christ comes into our lives. The Liturgy of the Hours provides a means to prepare the way of the Lord. A parish that strives to celebrate the Hours for the season of Advent will be enriched along their journey of preparation.

The challenge that lies ahead involves steering hearts and minds away from all the commercialism of Christmas and into a mode of presently actively waiting. This spirituality will take small precise steps toward preparing the way. A Christ-centered focus must remain at the core of our spirituality; all are in Christ and all are presently waiting and preparing for the fullness of eternal life. Collins provides inspiration for such a focus:

As in the Advent liturgy of the Hours the whole celebration should leave the people with the keen consciousness that the Advent of Christ is happening now, to us, and that through us it is going to happen to others if it happens at all. This is the ultimate fruit of the Advent office, of Advent spirituality. Only in this way, through this commitment, can the true light shine on us, the light of God's promise in our feeble half-light: All out of darkness we have light, which made the angels sing this night! And that's a song worth singing! (Collins, p. 108-109)

Advent Evening Prayer

• Opening Verse
• Hymn
• Psalmody (2 psalms and a New Testament Canticle)
• Psalm 80
• Psalm 122
• Revelation 11:17-18
• Scripture
• Luke 1:26-38 The Annunciation
• Short Response
• Magnificat
• Prayers and Intercessions
• Concluding Collect
• Blessing

• Opening Verse
• Hymn
• Psalmody (2 psalms and a New Testament Canticle)
• Psalm 80
• Psalm 72
• Revelation 15:3-4
• Scripture
• John 2:1-12 The Wedding at Cana
• Short Response
• Magnificat
• Prayers and Intercessions
• Concluding Collect
• Blessing

• Opening Verse
• Hymn
• Psalmody (2 psalms and a New Testament Canticle)
• Psalm 80
• Psalm 89
• Revelation 19:1-7
• Scripture
• John 11:17-27; 38-43 The Raising of Lazarus
• Short Response
• Magnificat
• Prayers and Intercessions
• Concluding Collect
• Blessing

• Opening Verse
• Hymn
• Psalmody (2 psalms and a New Testament Canticle)
• Psalm 80
• Isaiah 61:1-12
• Revelation 4:11, 5:10-12
• Scripture
• Luke 24:13-35 The Road to Emmaus
• Short Response
• Magnificat
• Prayers and Intercessions
• Concluding Collect
• Blessing