In the four weeks of Advent, familiar sights and sounds can stir in us a Christian readiness to receive our Savior, while sharpening our sense of the world's need for redemption and the great mystery of God's becoming human for us.
Advent is a Latin word meaning the coming .
The season of Advent is a time of preparation. Advent helps Christian people prepare each other to receive the promised Christ as He comes, whether as his lowly birth in history, His mysterious coming now to the Christian community at worship, or His triumphal coming to be our judge at the end of time. Christians in Rome viewed Advent more as a time of joyous remembrance of the incarnation of God in the Christ-child. Today these two emphases continues side by side. They give to our observance of Advent, symbols, terms and Scripture lessons that lead us to introspection and renewal, and to exuberant joy and celebration as we travel toward Christmas.