The Church year is divided into four parts, which can be compared to the four seasons.
Yet unlike the physical seasons and the calendar of the Western world, which begins the new year on 1 January, the Church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent with the awaiting of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as the people of Israel in Egypt, who awaited God’s deliverance from slavery, from hardship and decline in a land that did not belong to them, so we, the people of God, beginning with Advent, await the coming of our Saviour into our lives, our hearts and our everyday life, remembering that our true belonging is in Heaven, there, from whence we await our Saviour.
Just as the people of Israel, awaiting the saviour of their nation, prayed: “Baruch haba beshem Adonai”, we say – “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
May this time of awaiting be blessed and full of peace!
Aļesja Lavrinoviča