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Here's something that Pope Benedict wrote back in 86:
Memory Awakens Hope. . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above,1986
"Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advents intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Churchs year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the hearts memory so that it can discern the star of hope.
It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope."