Advent: The middle coming

The liturgical year in the West begins with the Season of Advent on the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew on November 30 and lasts about four weeks until the eve of Christmas. The word Advent means “coming” and as St. Bernard of Clairvaux explains:
 
We know that there are three comings of the Lord . . .
 
The first and second “comings” are visible. The third “coming” actually comes between the first and second, like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last, is invisible, and is where St. Bernard focuses our attention for the season of Advent.

Historic coming

In the first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him.

The pre-Christmas Advent season may have begun outside of the Christian West with a three week period of preparation for baptisms at Epiphany that included ascetic practices like fasting. By the late fifth century there is evidence in the West (Gaul) of a seven week or forty day pre-Christmas fast not necessarily tied to baptism sometimes known as St. Martin’s Lent as it was calculated from the feast of St. Martin (Nov 11). Here, Advent becomes a preparation for the historical coming of Christ. Also, before being fixed to March 25th in the sixth century, the feast of the Annunciation was observed in close proximity to Christmas along with other Marian commemorations that draw our attention to the birth of Jesus.

Vertical Divider

Future coming
 
In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on him whom they pierced.
 
Rome inherited a related six week version of Advent but prescribed readings to emphasise the anticipated Second Coming of Christ. In the late sixth century Pope Gregory I shortened Advent to four weeks, which is the version of Advent that was exported throughout the Christian West. What we have received from the tradition is a very rich expression of Advent that embraces a broad spectrum of these “comings”.  

Middle coming

The intermediate coming is a hidden one; in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved. . . Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last. In the first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation.
 
The birth of Jesus and the End Times are two dramatic events. Yet we live out our discipleship in the time and space between. As St. Bernard explains, the “middle coming” of Jesus is hidden; it takes place deep within each one of us as we progress along our spiritual journey. In stark contrast to the sensory overload we experience in commercial culture during this season, the liturgical character of Advent cultivates the stillness and quiet that enables us to experience Jesus as our rest and consolation in this middle coming. While we do well to remember our redemption by commemorating the birth of Jesus and to express our faith that Christ will come again, Advent invites us to prepare our spiritual lives and hearts to receive Jesus within ourselves.

​By: Dr. Simone Brosig