For many in North Jersey, the Christmas season will start in earnest soon.

Advent, the month-long buildup to the holiday, arrives for most Christians on Sunday, Nov. 30 (though Eastern Orthodox worshippers got a head start on Nov. 15.) For the faithful, it is a period of increased prayer and reflection to ready themselves for Christmas Day.

"Advent is the season of expectant hope," Bishop Kevin Sweeney of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson told us. It includes special psalms and prayers for "the fulfillment of our hopes for the coming of the Messiah in the Incarnation of the Son of God celebrated at Christmas. We pray that all of human longings are realized in mercy for the sinner, healing for the broken, and welcome to the stranger."

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