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The word Advent derives from the Latin word 'Adventus,' meaning coming. The Lord is coming. This year Advent begins on Sunday, November 29^th and ends on Christmas eve.
Advent is a time when we look to Christmas and the celebration of the Birth of Christ, our Lord.

Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year (in the Western churches), and encompasses the span of time from the fourth Sunday before Christmas, until the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas) is celebrated. The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (which is November 30th), and so it will always fall somewhere between November 27th at the earliest and December 3rd at the latest. The liturgical color for this season is purple (Usually a deep purple as opposed to the lighter, red-violet shade of purple associated with Lent).

Like Lent, Advent is a preparatory season. It has significance because it is a season of looking forward and waiting for something greater; both for the annual celebration of the event of Christ's birth, and for the time when Christ will come again.

Accorrding to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, during Advent, we are asked:

• to prepare ourselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the
incarnate God of love,
• thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and
• thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.