“We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days, which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25th, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2nd. It is a period, which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the Time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over;—seem able to distract our Holy Mother the Church, from the immense joy, of which she received the good tidings from the Angels, on that glorious Night, for which the world had been longing four thousand years. The Faithful will remember, that the Liturgy commemorates this long expectation, by the four penitential weeks of Advent.
“The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Saviour’s Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty-days’ duration, is founded on the holy Gospel itself; for it tells us, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfil, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became Mothers. The Feast of Mary’s Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus’ Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty-days as one continued Festival, has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church. . . .”
“. . .This is not the season for sighing or for weeping. For unto us a Child is born! He, for whom we have been so long waiting is come; and He is come to dwell among us. Great, indeed, and long was our suspense; so much the more let us love our possessing Him. The day will too soon come when this Child, now born to us, will be the Man of Sorrows, and then we will compassionate Him;—but, at present, we must rejoice and be glad at His coming, and sing round His Crib, with the Angels. Heaven sends us a present of its own joy: we need joy, and Forty Days are not too many for us to get it well into our hearts. The Scripture tells us, that a secure mind is like a continual feast, and a secure mind can only be where there is peace; now, it is Peace, which these blessed days bring to the earth; Peace, say the Angels, to men of good will!”
—THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS
The Liturgical Year by Dom Gueranger
