I have never paid much attention to December 23, except as a way through to what really mattered, namely December 24 (in my culture of origin, Christmas Eve is the emotional highpoint of Christmas, when the family gathers, the Christmas tree candles are lit, and presents are exchanged, all followed by a festive meal and midnight mass).<\/p>\n
But this year, my experience of December 23 has changed. The day suddenly seems more important in and of itself, something akin to a liturgical hinge day, when things begin to turn.\u00a0 As the last of the O-Antiphons is chanted today, our Advent waiting draws to a close and we stand on the threshold of something new.\u00a0 Maybe December 23 \u2013 as one of those liminal, threshold days when things liturgical begin to turn — is akin to Holy Saturday (if only in that regard); maybe here are other such liturgical hinge days.<\/p>\n
The antiphon for this year\u2019s responsorial psalm at Mass puts us on high alert for what is to come:\u00a0 \u201cyour redemption is near at hand.\u201d\u00a0 With that assurance, Advent\u2019s <\/strong>waiting turns toward a new and different kind of encounter with God, as we turn towards\u00a0the moment of ultimate mystery: God being born in our midst.<\/p>\n Of course our faith is lived within cultural trends that force other experiences of time to the forefront on this December 23: the last few, frantic hours of shopping have arrived.\u00a0 And the retail industry will begin to report on whether its hopes have materialized, in the form of consumers who meet or exceed the expectations of the industry. \u00a0We cannot escape these peculiar rhythms around December 23.\u00a0 It is precisely within their context that Christians, once again, have to struggle to embody their own rhythm of expectation and materialization.\u00a0 This rhythm invites us, on this day, to begin to slow down rather than to speed up,\u00a0and to turn, so as to be able to be present, really present, to the heart of Christmas, the mystery of the Word made flesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 23 suddenly seems more important in and of itself, something akin to a liturgical hinge day, when things begin to turn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[1749],"class_list":["post-12821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-spirituality","tag-december-23"],"yoast_head":"\n