A little late in the game, but here are a few titles that I recommend for Advent reading:
Reed of God by Caryll Houselander (Ave Maria Press, 2006) is the most classically "spiritual reading" of these Advent readings. Houselander uses the lens of Mary's life to talk about being drawn deeper into life in Christ, beginning with becoming empty, like a reed that will become shaped by God to become a flute that sings His glory.
Mary's Advent emptiness made straight the path that Christ might be conceived by the Holy Spirit in her; our emptiness makes way for Christ's indwelling of our hearts. Mary gives the gift of her flesh to the Son of God that he might become flesh; likewise we have become the Body of Christ. Several of the reflections on the Incarnation as being the gift of Mary's flesh affected my own love of Mary but of these the most arresting was Houselander's reflection that by receiving her flesh, Jesus also receives her death without which there is no cross and thus His death IS her death as well, martyred in his own Paschal suffering.
Unique to this book is the idea that several key moments of Mary's life are rooted in an Advent spirituality, a preparation for Christ's coming: Annunciation and Pregnancy, of course, but also the seeking of Christ in the Temple so that he comes back home, and at the foot of the Cross where in giving the Apostle John to her as her son, Christ will come to her in all Christians. These moments then become our own as we empty ourselves to receive Christ, continue to search for him through our lives, and finally learn to recognize him in all persons.
Overall the book left me with two key spiritual ideas that I want to foster. First, that while Lent is the season of conversion and catechumens, Advent is the season of the Faith par excellence, because it is a season of waiting. Our spiritual life is often one of prolonged and profound waiting for the coming of Christ, servants holding vigil waiting for the Master to arrive. We must reconceive Christ in our hearts again and again and then be prepared to wait with a patience achievable only by hope and grace. Second, to foster faith that Christ really is in me. "How can this be?" (Luke 1:34), Houselander points out, is as much our question as it is Mary's. It takes continual acts of faith to make that a living truth in our lives ... a practice of the presence of God, so to speak.
Office of Readings, non-Scriptural Readings: Advent
Putting aside, for the moment, the actually praying of the Divine Office, the non-Scriptural readings of the Liturgy of the Hours-Office of Readings are the Church's own recommended spiritual reading for Advent. Through them the Church unpacks all the themes of Advent through the most powerful writings of the saints and Tradition. During each week, the readings focus on a particular theme:
Week One: The Comings of Christ
Week Two: Christ as the Fulfillment of Prophetic Promise
Week Three: The New Covenant of Love and Beatitude
Week Four: Waiting in Joyful Expectation with Mary
While I don't know of any resources that has the non-Scriptural readings by themselves, there is no loss for places to find them either in Volume 1: Advent and Christmas of the four volume Liturgy of the Hours (Catholic Book Publishing Co) or any number of places online: here, here, and here, for example. Unless you're familiar with praying the Liturgy of the Hours I recommend skipping the psalms and Scriptural reading, and just immerse yourself in the teachings of the Church Fathers for now.
Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (Ignatius Press, 2012) is Pope Benedict XVI's "antechamber" to his two earlier exegetical works on the portrait of Jesus in the Gospels: Baptism in the Jordan to The Transfiguration and Jerusalem Entrance to the Resurrection. This work, like the others, goes WAY beyond just re-telling and interpreting the events of the Jesus story, in this case the Annunciation through the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Ratzinger begins this work with the notion that answer the question Where do you [Jesus] come from? (John 19:9) is at the heart of the rest of the Gospel. Without answering that question, the rest of the Gospel can be dismissed as the story of just another messianic, exorcist rabbi hanging out in first century Palestine. So too should we not just idly accept that Advent is the Season of Christ's two comings, but reflect on what we truly believe about where Christ comes from: is he just the carpenter's son (Matthew 13:55) from Nazareth, from where nothing good ever came (Jn 1:46)?
The work, as can be said of all the Jesus of Nazareth volumes, is systematic, historical, critical and profound. Scholarly enough to be an academic work it is still accessible enough to be a great Advent read for those who want to reflect deeply on the Scriptural answer to the question Where do you come from?
G.K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man (Ignatius Press, 2008) was a surprise title for even myself that popped up as I reflected on works that would be appropriate for Advent. Advent is, of course, not just preparation for celebrating the specific event of the Birth of Christ. The Incarnation of the Lord is the pinnacle and axis of all human history. In fact, history itself cannot be understood truly except in light of the Incarnation of the Lord, and that is exactly what Chesterton does in The Everlasting Man.
By reflecting on that truth, when we come to Christmas itself, it will expand far beyond Nativity Scenes, carols and presents, to becoming this momentous moment in history on which the whole world turns. In fact, as Chesterton points out, even the Gospel writers themselves take great pains to tell the story of the birth of Christ NOT as story, but as history: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus* that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria." (Luke 2:1-2) and "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod" (Mt 2:1) Our faith should not relegate the birth of Christ to only a Fairy Tale (though, Tolkien would argue that it is a true Fairy Story), but realize that these events are History of a particular time and a particular place and part of the Human Story and Legend and Myth and Providence that lives and reverberates through our lives at this particular place and this particular time. Advent is Epic people and Chesterton takes us on that adventure with his usual wit and common sense.
Reed of God by Caryll Houselander (Ave Maria Press, 2006) is the most classically "spiritual reading" of these Advent readings. Houselander uses the lens of Mary's life to talk about being drawn deeper into life in Christ, beginning with becoming empty, like a reed that will become shaped by God to become a flute that sings His glory.
Mary's Advent emptiness made straight the path that Christ might be conceived by the Holy Spirit in her; our emptiness makes way for Christ's indwelling of our hearts. Mary gives the gift of her flesh to the Son of God that he might become flesh; likewise we have become the Body of Christ. Several of the reflections on the Incarnation as being the gift of Mary's flesh affected my own love of Mary but of these the most arresting was Houselander's reflection that by receiving her flesh, Jesus also receives her death without which there is no cross and thus His death IS her death as well, martyred in his own Paschal suffering.
Unique to this book is the idea that several key moments of Mary's life are rooted in an Advent spirituality, a preparation for Christ's coming: Annunciation and Pregnancy, of course, but also the seeking of Christ in the Temple so that he comes back home, and at the foot of the Cross where in giving the Apostle John to her as her son, Christ will come to her in all Christians. These moments then become our own as we empty ourselves to receive Christ, continue to search for him through our lives, and finally learn to recognize him in all persons.
Overall the book left me with two key spiritual ideas that I want to foster. First, that while Lent is the season of conversion and catechumens, Advent is the season of the Faith par excellence, because it is a season of waiting. Our spiritual life is often one of prolonged and profound waiting for the coming of Christ, servants holding vigil waiting for the Master to arrive. We must reconceive Christ in our hearts again and again and then be prepared to wait with a patience achievable only by hope and grace. Second, to foster faith that Christ really is in me. "How can this be?" (Luke 1:34), Houselander points out, is as much our question as it is Mary's. It takes continual acts of faith to make that a living truth in our lives ... a practice of the presence of God, so to speak.
Office of Readings, non-Scriptural Readings: Advent
Putting aside, for the moment, the actually praying of the Divine Office, the non-Scriptural readings of the Liturgy of the Hours-Office of Readings are the Church's own recommended spiritual reading for Advent. Through them the Church unpacks all the themes of Advent through the most powerful writings of the saints and Tradition. During each week, the readings focus on a particular theme:
Week One: The Comings of Christ
Week Two: Christ as the Fulfillment of Prophetic Promise
Week Three: The New Covenant of Love and Beatitude
Week Four: Waiting in Joyful Expectation with Mary
While I don't know of any resources that has the non-Scriptural readings by themselves, there is no loss for places to find them either in Volume 1: Advent and Christmas of the four volume Liturgy of the Hours (Catholic Book Publishing Co) or any number of places online: here, here, and here, for example. Unless you're familiar with praying the Liturgy of the Hours I recommend skipping the psalms and Scriptural reading, and just immerse yourself in the teachings of the Church Fathers for now.
Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (Ignatius Press, 2012) is Pope Benedict XVI's "antechamber" to his two earlier exegetical works on the portrait of Jesus in the Gospels: Baptism in the Jordan to The Transfiguration and Jerusalem Entrance to the Resurrection. This work, like the others, goes WAY beyond just re-telling and interpreting the events of the Jesus story, in this case the Annunciation through the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Ratzinger begins this work with the notion that answer the question Where do you [Jesus] come from? (John 19:9) is at the heart of the rest of the Gospel. Without answering that question, the rest of the Gospel can be dismissed as the story of just another messianic, exorcist rabbi hanging out in first century Palestine. So too should we not just idly accept that Advent is the Season of Christ's two comings, but reflect on what we truly believe about where Christ comes from: is he just the carpenter's son (Matthew 13:55) from Nazareth, from where nothing good ever came (Jn 1:46)?The work, as can be said of all the Jesus of Nazareth volumes, is systematic, historical, critical and profound. Scholarly enough to be an academic work it is still accessible enough to be a great Advent read for those who want to reflect deeply on the Scriptural answer to the question Where do you come from?
G.K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man (Ignatius Press, 2008) was a surprise title for even myself that popped up as I reflected on works that would be appropriate for Advent. Advent is, of course, not just preparation for celebrating the specific event of the Birth of Christ. The Incarnation of the Lord is the pinnacle and axis of all human history. In fact, history itself cannot be understood truly except in light of the Incarnation of the Lord, and that is exactly what Chesterton does in The Everlasting Man.
By reflecting on that truth, when we come to Christmas itself, it will expand far beyond Nativity Scenes, carols and presents, to becoming this momentous moment in history on which the whole world turns. In fact, as Chesterton points out, even the Gospel writers themselves take great pains to tell the story of the birth of Christ NOT as story, but as history: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus* that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria." (Luke 2:1-2) and "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod" (Mt 2:1) Our faith should not relegate the birth of Christ to only a Fairy Tale (though, Tolkien would argue that it is a true Fairy Story), but realize that these events are History of a particular time and a particular place and part of the Human Story and Legend and Myth and Providence that lives and reverberates through our lives at this particular place and this particular time. Advent is Epic people and Chesterton takes us on that adventure with his usual wit and common sense.
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