Our double issue of the Catholic Herald embraces the entire season of Advent and Christmastide: the journey to Bethlehem culminating in the arrival of the Magi and concluding with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Candlemas. It is about preparation as well as celebration.
At Advent we look to the Second Coming of Christ; at Christmas we rejoice again at his first coming in the flesh. It is one of the great divides between the Church and the world that the Church’s year begins when it does, at the beginning of Advent. 1 January, when the secular year begins, sits within the season as one of the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
