Beginning the Church's liturgical year, Advent (from, "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to") is the season encompassing the four Sundays (and weekdays) leading up to the celebration of Christmas.

The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. The final days of Advent, from Dec. 17 to Dec. 24, focus particularly on our preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas).

Advent devotions including the Advent wreath, remind us of the meaning of the season. The USCCB's bilingual Advent Calendar can help you fully enter in to the season with daily activity and prayer suggestions to prepare you spiritually for the birth of Jesus Christ. 

– Source: USCCB.org
 

Emmanuel, ‘God among us’

It is always a wonderful coincidence that our celebration of Thanksgiving occurs before the First Sunday of Advent each year. Although Thanksgiving is not a liturgical feast, it is appropriate on that day to bow our heads in grateful prayer to God before beginning a new Church year.

The season of Advent is a unique season of hope – filled with preparation for all of us in the Christian community – although it can be missed easily by society at large as simply an extended, early celebration of Christmas. True enough, Christ has already come, and we should rejoice in his Incarnation every day of our lives. But the four weeks of Advent give us all a special time for the prayerful “retelling” of the story leading up to the birth of Jesus, the Hope of Israel.

The images of Isaiah and the prophets, John the Baptist, and Mary figure so prominently in the Scriptures we read and preach during these few, fast weeks. We need to let the “Word” sink deeply into our minds, hearts and souls as the great scriptural Advent figures anticipated the “Word made flesh.” The hymns we sing and the orations we pray at Mass all fix our attention in faith upon the One who has come, the One who is coming and the One who is yet to come, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is all about Him: everything we are, everything we hope for and everything we do as Christians. We need to make every day of Advent an anticipation of yet another, more profound, more transforming revelation of Emmanuel, “God among us.” [Continue reading ... ]

Advent activities slated throughout Diocese

From Christmas pageants and choir concerts to Advent series discussions, parishes in the Diocese's four counties have all you need to get prepared for Christmas and the Advent season.

Bookmark this list from The Monitor!
It will grow as events and activities are announced.