Season of waiting

As children, we recall the anticipation of waiting for Christmas. We remember longing for that magical morning when we could race to the living room to open our presents under the tree.

However, many of us never understood the “proper” way to wait for Christmas. The Advent novena from December 14 through December 22 at Bismarck’s Church of Saint Anne might just help us wait for the Lord in a special way that we’ve never done before.

Priests at Saint Anne’s, Frs. Kregg Hochhalter and Paul Gardner, were discussing ways to increase the right living of Advent in the parish setting when they decided on the idea of an Advent novena. Both men had experienced such a novena during seminary formation.

“In our parishes, we are telling people not to start the Christmas season too early but not giving them ways to live this out. It’s our role as priests to lead the faithful toward the truth, beauty and wonder behind the season of Advent—the season of waiting for our Lord,” said Fr. Hochhalter.

The Latin root of the word Advent means “coming.” For four Sundays before Christmas, we capture both the longing and the hope for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. What often happens, however, is that we are in such a rush to get to Christmas that we tend to skip right over the waiting part during the busy time of preparation.

Father Hochhalter’s intention is that the nine days of the Advent novena help those who attend to appreciate and love that waiting period instead of wishing it away.

“Our hope is that this time will bring out in ourselves and in the people who we serve, the beauty of waiting—a holy waiting. When both Fr. Paul and I have done this novena in the past, it grew in us this idea of holy waiting in our hearts. It’s a way to focus our hearts on waiting for the birth of our Lord in an intentional way.”

Each night will begin at 7 p.m. and run approximately an hour. Antiphonal singing or chant (back and forth between a choir and a congregation), reading from the Old Testament, a homily and a time for meditation completes the novena over nine days. Each of the nine evenings will feature a different priest from the Bismarck-Mandan area as the homilist.

Featured homilists

Father Paul Gardner, parochial vicar at the Church of Saint Anne, will lead off the novena on night one on Thursday, Dec. 14. The following nights are Dec. 15 - Fr. Russ Kovash, Dec. 16 - Fr. Josh Waltz, Dec. 17 - Fr. Steven Vetter, Dec. 18 - Fr. Jeff Zwack, Dec. 19 - Fr. Josh Ehli, Dec. 20 - Msgr. Patrick Schumacher, Dec. 21 - Fr. Jared Johnson and Dec. 22 - Fr. Kregg Hochhalter.

On the Friday nights, Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, there will be refreshments afterwards to bring in the fellowship aspect and community of faith.

“Hearing from a different priest each night adds to the value in giving those in attendance a different perspective,” Fr. Hochhalter said.

Father added, “How do we live Advent well and with a tone of waiting? There’s a handful of saints out there who have written about this and how to live Advent. It’s not like Lent. There are all kinds of writings on Lent, and I think we do that season well, but Advent is very different. It’s shorter, right next to Christmas. People are busy, the weather is harsh. We want to give people a chance to rest in this season and learn how to wait for the Lord.”

It’s easy to see why we need to wait, but the “how-to” is maybe more difficult for the faithful to understand.

Father Hochhalter noted, “How do we wait in a holy way? Advent is the very life of Mary and Joseph. It was their life—waiting for the Lord to come. Here’s our chance to model ourselves after the two holiest saints we know. How do we model our Advent of waiting after them?”

If you go

The novena event will be held in the main body of the Church of Saint Anne in Bismarck. All are welcome to attend one evening, all nine or as many as possible. There will be a worship aid to accompany each night and other “take-home” materials to aid with people’s experience.

For those far away or if scheduling is an issue, the novena will be livestreamed each night via the parish website at stannesbismarck.org.

“All are invited to attend. We want people, far beyond the boundaries of Saint Anne’s, to feel welcome,” Fr. Hochhalter said. “It’s all about helping people do Advent well. And, if we do Advent well, then our Christmas will be that much more enhanced.”