Pope: Advent, "a time of hope and waiting", gets under way
The lead-up to Christmas is also a "time in which Christians should reawaken in their heart the hope of being able to, with God's help, renew the world" and prepare for the "final goal", Christ's second coming.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) The start of Advent, "a time of great religious suggestion, because it is flooded with hope and spiritual anticipation", a season of joy, but also a "time in which Christians should reawaken in their heart the hope of being able, with God's help, to renew the world". This was the gist of Benedict XVI's message today to 40,000 people who defied grey and rainy weather to gather in St Peter's Square for the recital of the Angelus.
In his reflection, Benedict XVI also highlighted Advent as an invitation to "vigilance" in the wait for Christ's second coming.
"On this Sunday, Advent starts," he said, "a time of great religious suggestion, because it is flooded with hope and spiritual anticipation: every time the Christian community prepares to commemorate the birth of the Redeemer, it is alerted to a tremor of joy within, which it communicates, to some extent, to all society. In Advent, Christian people relive a twofold movement of the spirit: on the one hand, they directs their gaze to the final goal of their pilgrimage in history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other hand, recalling with emotion the birth in Bethlehem, they bow down before the Crib. The hope of Christians is directed to the future, but it remains firmly rooted in a past event. In the fullness of time, the Son of God was born to the Virgin Mary: 'Born of a woman, born under the law', as the apostle Paul wrote (Gal 4:4).
"The Gospel invites us today to remain vigilant in anticipation of Christ's second coming. Jesus says: 'Keep awakefor you do not know when the master of the house will come' (Mk 13:35-37). The short parable about the master who leaves for a trip and the servants charged with keeping watch, highlights the importance of being ready to welcome the Lord when, unexpectedly, he comes. The Christian community anxiously awaits his "manifestation" and the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, exhorts them to trust in God's faithfulness and to live in such a way as to be found 'faultless' (cfr 1 Cor 1:7-9) on the day of the Lord. Therefore, it is very opportune that the Liturgy should put the words of the Psalm on our lips at the beginning of Advent: 'Show us Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation' (Ps.84:8)
"We may say that Advent is the time in which Christians should reawaken in their heart the hope of being able, with God's help, to renew the world. From this point of view, I want to call to mind, today too, the Constitution of the Second Vatican Council Gaudium et Spes about the Church in the modern world: Christian hope is deeply pervasive in its text. I refer in particular to no. 39, entitled "New earth and new heaven". Here we read: "We are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide (cfr 2 Cor 5:2; 2 Pt 3:13) the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one". We will find the good fruits of our work again when Christ hands over his eternal and universal Kingdom to his Father. The most Holy Mary, Virgin of Advent, enables us to live this time of grace vigilant and hardworking as we wait on the Lord."
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