It is the four week season that inaugurates the liturgical year.
Advent is a season of joyful expectation.
It is a time to prepare for Christmas when Christ's first coming to us is celebrated, and it is also a time that directs our mind and heart to await Christ's Second Coming at the end of the ages. The focus during the first part of Advent is Christ's glorious return at the end of time to a restored world. Each day the Scriptures proclaim the vision of the Prophet Isaiah, who was inspired to preach the message of the world restored and redeemed by the Messiah. The second part of Advent prepares us more directly for the celebration of Christmas. Beginning on December 17, the emphasis is on the events immediately preceding the Lord's birth.