Advent begins the Church’s liturgical year (see “What Purpose Lent” under “A Bob’s-Eye View” on this website for a brief description of the liturgical year), starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.
Like Lent, it is a season of preparation, and shares with Lent the liturgical colour, purple. Each of the four Sundays in Lent has a theme: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. “Advent” means coming, which necessarily implies waiting, but Advent suggests a particular kind of waiting; and active waiting in which one acts according to that which is expected.