Advent is the first season of the new liturgical year, when faithful Catholics anticipate the coming of Jesus and prepare for the celebration of his birth on Christmas day.
The word advent means “arrival” and this name of the season indicates waiting, expecting, and preparing.
The Mass readings during Advent include writings from the prophets who foretold the birth of the long-awaited Messiah and the Gospel stories of Jesus’ life on Earth.
The Advent lessons about Jesus’ first arrival remind Catholics that Jesus will also come again at the end of time and prepare them to be ready now.
The liturgical color of violet and the modest church decorations in Advent remind Catholics that their joy cannot be fully expressed until Jesus arrives. Even the music is slightly subdued and the Gloria is not sung.
Advent calendars count down the time until Christmas and Catholics light a candle on the Advent wreath for each Sunday when it arrives.
While there are always four Sundays of Advent, there are not necessarily four full weeks of the season. The final week of Advent may be quite short when the 4th Sunday falls close to Christmas day.
Rose vestments and candles are used on the Third Sunday of Advent, which is called Gaudete Sunday because of the more joyful expectation of that particular Sunday’ readings at Mass.
A new liturgical year:
Advent in 2 minutes:
“Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Matthew 24: 42-44
Advent season is different than Christmas season:
Growing in strength with spiritual exercises in Lent:
Called to penance, prayer, and reflection:
Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in it the whole Church is called to become hope, for herself and for the world. The whole organism of the Mystical Body acquires, so to speak, the “colour” of hope. The whole People of God continue on their journey, attracted by this mystery: that our God is “the God who comes” and calls us to go to meet him. How? In the first place in that universal form of hope and expectation which is prayer, which is eminently expressed in the Psalms, human words in which God himself has placed and continually places the invocation of his coming on the lips and in the hearts of believers.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 29 November 2008
Advent is about hope and joy:
Preparing to see God:
We’re not waiting for a baby in a manger:
When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 524
How to celebrate Advent and prepare the manger of your soul:
Understanding Advent through Jesus’ three comings:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Relying on God:
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