It is further stated “The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year ... ” (CCC 1250). This means that fasting on Fridays has not been abolished by the Church during Advent. Catholic tradition maintains an unwritten code of penitential rites. Cloistered monks and nuns know the value of such mortifications and embrace them with piety. Secular society, on the other hand, ostracize such practices because of the baggage that the temporal world places upon them. In the relative world, you are judged by your neighbors by how well you have broke the bonds of spiritual attachment. And this is what it means to be successful. Be a true Catholic by celebrating the festive season of advent by tempering it with sublime penitential acts.
The Church does not forbid nor exclude Penitential Readings from its liturgical texts during the Mass or Liturgy of the Hours during Advent. In the monastic breviary, for instance all Penitential Psalms are said every week and not just on Fridays. Many Catholics go to Confession in the weeks leading up to Christmas. They unknowingly are taking part in the penitential sacrament of Reconciliation. And there is also the Penitential Act during the Mass which the faithful say everyday of the year.
Those that believe they are celebrating their Advent free from any form of penance are given over to Protestant Ideology and are not true Catholics. Distinctively educated Catholics know what separates them from Protestants. The Catholic Church has the Magisterium which cannot or will not change. . . Ever! Protestants of today do not reflect those of yesteryear. They change according to the winds of social norms. Penitential Catholics know what is required of them for it is written "Reading Sacred Scripture, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father - every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins." (CCC 1437). Repentance is a penitential gift. Every sin on our soul, committed daily or not, must be repented. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." * 1 John 1:8
All in all, it is true that Advent is not a penitential season, but it is not a season without penitential form. Do not be presumptuous in denying yourself a devout beginning of the liturgical year. There are numerous ways in which we can repent for having offended God. Fasting, prayer and acts of charity are good in themselves and prefigure God's mercy and forgiveness. This has a sublime effect on our heart and soul. It makes us more joyous and appreciative to what the birth of Jesus did for humankind.
Brother Mordecai