Eighty women gathered to hear featured speakers Father Andrew
Fisher, pastor of St. Ambrose Church in Annandale, and
freelance writer Elizabeth
Foss offer guidance for the coming Advent season Nov. 7
at St. Mark Church in Vienna. “Finding Joy in Advent,”
co-sponsored by Living Advent and the Arlington Diocesan
Council of Catholic Women, was aimed at inspiring women and
families to engage more fully in the Advent and Christmas
seasons.
Father Fisher gave the audience an overview of the history of
the church calendar. He noted that the calendar’s beginning
was hidden, due to religious persecutions. Easter was the
anchor of the early church calendar, and the focus on
preparation for Easter was the season of Lent.
As pilgrims began to seek details on the life of Christ and
the liturgical celebration of the Savior’s birth was fixed,
the season of Advent took shape. Following the Edict of Milan
in A.D. 313, Christians were free to practice their faith,
and the church calendar was published openly.
The great themes of Advent, light and darkness, were brought
out. Christ the Light comes into the world, a world darkened
by sin. God reveals His glory through light, the light of the
Incarnation. The church’s liturgical prayer focuses on the
image of light as it builds through the season in the Liturgy
of the Hours and the “O Antiphons,” reaching its great
illumination with the birth of the Savior.
In the closing talk, Elizabeth Foss described the ups and
downs of motherhood. Recalling a particularly challenging
Advent and Christmas a few years ago, she stressed the
importance of self-care, starting with adequate sleep,
healthy eating and exercise – not always easy for mothers.
Foss described the habits of healthy living, then turned to
the prayer life of the church. She explained how the Liturgy
of the Hours is key to balancing one’s spiritual life with
daily life and offered a model of how to do it. She described
how she sets the alarms on her cell phone to correspond with
the hours of prayer, walking the audience through a typical
day. Establishing this rhythm of the hours is a source of
grace for her to help with the demands of the seasons. For
those who prefer a shorter version of the Liturgy of Hours,
she suggested The Christian Book of Prayer or the Magnificat.
Rooney is the coordinator of Living Advent 2015.
