Advent 2

Why In December?
It seems strange that Advent and the Christ Mass are celebrated in December, for Scripture tells us the shepherds were tending their flocks in the fields when the angels announced His birth.  For shepherds to be in the fields the actual birth event should be in Spring or Summer, perhaps as late as early Autumn, but not in the dead of Winter!  I also blogged on this back in 2005 - and the reason for December 25th is not based in pagan rituals (as many non-Catholics would have you believe) but in the fact that early Christians believed that prophets died on an anniversary of their birth or conception.  Since Easter (Christ's death and resurrection) is in the Spring, nine months later places the birth in December.  That is not very scientific, I know, but then again - the early Christians were not necessarily so scientifically minded as we would be in the 21st century.  So don't be scandalized by those who wish to put paganism upon us, the real reason has nothing to do with paganism.  The early Christians were not so concerned about whether it was Summer or Winter - but with setting a calendar for annual remembrance of the life and ministry of Jesus, His mother, the Apostles and other Saints in Christian history.