But what is important is allowing ourselves to be open to an encounter with the Lord." "When we go to meet the Lord, we are - let's face it - the masters of this meeting , but when we let Him encounter us, it is He who enters us, it is He who makes us new again, because this is the coming, this is what the coming of Christ means".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Christmas "is not only a temporal recurrence or a beautiful memory", but a "journey" to "meet the Lord" and what's more to "letting Him meet us" in which "he makes us new again".
Our preparation for Christmas was the topic of Pope Francis' homily at Mass in Casa Santa Marta in this first Monday of Advent, as Vatican Radio reports.

Commenting on the passage from the Gospel of the day, where the Roman centurion with great faith asks Jesus to heal his servant, the Pope recalled that in these days, "we begin a new journey " , a "journey of the Church ... towards Christmas ." We go to meet the Lord , " because Christmas - he explained - is not only a temporal recurrence or a memory of something beautiful".

"Christmas is more: we travel this road to meet the Lord . Christmas is an encounter! And we walk to meet him: with our heart, with life ; to meet him alive, as He is ; meet Him with faith . It is not easy to live with faith. In the words we have just heard, the Lord was amazed at this centurion: he marveled at the faith that he had . He had made ​​a journey to meet the Lord, but he did so with faith. For this reason, he not only met the Lord, but felt the joy of being met by the Lord. And this is precisely the encounter that we want: the encounter of faith".

But what is important is allowing ourselves to be open to an encounter with the Lord. "When we go to meet the Lord, we are - let's face it - the masters of this meeting , but when we let Him encounter us, it is He who enters us, it is He who makes us new again, because this is the coming, this is what the coming of Christ means: making all things new again, the heart, soul, hope and journey.  We are on a journey with faith, the faith of this centurion, to meet the Lord and most importantly  leaving ourselves open to an encounter with Him".

But to do this we need an open heart. "An open heart, so that He will encounter me! And tell me what He wants to tell me, which is not always what I want Him to tell me ! He is the Lord and He will tell me what he has in store for me , because the Lord does not look at us all together, like one big mass of people. No, no ! He looks everyone in the face, into their eyes, because His love is not an abstract love: it is real love ! From person to person: the person of the Lord looks at me, a person. We must let ourselves be loved by the Lord".

The Pope concluded, "some attitudes can help us on this journey towards Christmas: perseverance in prayer, praying more , the labor of fraternal charity, being a little closer to those in need , and joy in praise of the Lord". Thus "prayer , charity and praise " , with an open heart "so the Lord can encounter us."

 

 

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