WHAT IS ADVENT?
The
season or time of
year leading up to Christmas. The word
advent COMING, and during
ADVENT we are waiting for the
COMING of JESUS CHRIST. Advent begins on Sunday nearest St. Andrew''s Day, November 30, and ends at midnight, December 24. The first Sunday of Advent is the first of the ecclesiastical year. Advent is the first liturgical season of the Church calendar. During Advent the Chursh through its prayers, Gospels, etc., shows the Jewish world waiting for the
Messias,
the Redeemer who was to save humankind from their sins. Advent is a period of PENANCE, though not so much a period of
PENANCE as Lent. The Redeemer has not yet come, and only by penance can the way be prepared for Him.
The word "Advent" comes from the Latin language "
ADVENTUS" and means literally translated "
arrival" or "
coming into a place". Appllied to the Church year it is the season which precedes Christmas and commemorates the coming of Christ.
The Christiana accepted the term "ADVENTUS" and give it a
new meaning. It became the term to signify the season of the year in which we are waiting for the coming of Christ: the time of recalling His first coming when He became man, and the time of looking forward to His second and final coming to bring about a new
HEAVEN and a new
EARTH.
The season of Advent has a two-fold character. It is time of preparation for Christmas when the first coming of God''s Son to humankind is recalled. It is aso a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ''s second coming at the end of time. This how the document about the Roman calendar fitting describes the
meaning of this season.
More summaries about the ADVENT AND ITS MEANING