Pope Francis welcomed the beginning of Advent on Sunday by urging Catholics to be aware of Christ’s coming at all times as the new liturgical year got underway.

"Season of #Advent, let us be shaken out of our torpor to recognize God’s present in daily situations,” the pope said in a tweet this week. “If we are unaware of his coming today, we will also be unprepared when He arrives at the end of time. Let us remain vigilant!”

The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word meaning “coming,” a Crosswalk.com article said. Although Advent is typically considered a season of anticipating Christmas these days, it got its start as being a time when early Christians would prepare for the baptisms of new Christians on the Epiphany. The Advent season also precedes the Magi visiting the baby Jesus, Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, and Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana. Christians use the Advent season as a time for fasting and prayer. It was during the Middle Ages that Advent became directly linked to Christ’s birth.

The first Sunday of Advent celebrates hope, Crosswalk said. Catholics pray and reflect on hope in God’s plan for deliverance through Christ.

On the first Sunday of Advent, Catholics light the first purple candle on their Advent wreaths, a Daily Press article said. The purple color is used to symbolize preparation and repentance. The circular wreath is used to symbolize God’s eternal nature, as a circle has no end. The pink candle, which is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, signifies that the waiting period for Christ's birth is almost over.

“Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep,” the second of the USCCB Daily Readings said, in which St. Paul writes to the Romans (Romans 13:11-14). “For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”