In other Catholic traditions, the Advent Wreath is used the four Sundays before Christmas to commemorate the coming of Christ into the world, and to prepare the hearts of the people to celebrate his birth on Christmas. According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Advent is
- to prepare themselves 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.