Archbishop Bernard Hebda said that Advent, over time, became a season of waiting for Christmas and for celebrating the great mystery of the Lord’s incarnation. Lent is a time of preparation for the Lord’s rising from the dead at Easter, the archbishop said.
Both Advent and Lent have a penitential aspect to them, he said.
Archbishop Hebda told “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley on the program that will air at 9 p.m. Nov. 29 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, “They’re periods in which we’re called to conversion as we prepare, in the case of Advent for Christmas, and in the case of lent for the great celebration of Easter. … It’s a season in which we relish the hidden ways in which God breaks into our lives.”
With the first half of Advent focused on the second coming of Christ, Archbishop Hebda said people need to have an active waiting by engaging their hearts and prayer to help them be ready for Christ’s return.
“We have to be able and perceptive enough to see Jesus’s breaking into our lives day in and day out in those hidden ways, and certainly for us as Catholics, we have an advantage there because we know how Jesus is always present to us in the Blessed Sacrament. Every time that Mass is celebrated, we know that Jesus is there. Every time that confession is heard, we know that Jesus is there. He’s the one who forgives. The priest is acting in the very person of Christ in that way. We should be attentive to the ways in which Jesus is there.”
Archbishop Hebda said it’s important to ask for the gift of being able to recognize Jesus in daily lives. When he worked in Rome, Archbishop Hebda got to know the Missionaries of Charity. He often heard them quote Mother Teresa (St. Teresa of Kolkata), that it is important to recognize Jesus in the poor.
“It’s a way in which we’re able really to prepare for the end of time,” Archbishop Hebda said. “We know that Jesus is going to be there as we’re judged and he’s going to ask that question about what we had done for him, how it is that we treated him when he was poor and naked and hungry and thirsty.”
Archbishop Hebda said Advent and Lent are times people are called to not only go deeper in prayer, but to be more generous in action too.
“There is that opportunity to serve more and as we’re present to others, the hope is that they’re able to detect Advent joy in our hearts and that’s something that helps to lead them to Christ,” Archbishop Hebda said.
To hear Archbishop Hebda discuss how to approach the waiting of Advent with hope and action, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Nov. 30 and 2 p.m. Dec. 1.
The program also includes a discussion with Chris Ederer on his journey from addiction to pornography to recovery. Also, Kari Bednarczyk, the founder of GRACE Co., talks about her company’s volunteer services to support families in need.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program can also be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
