{"id":27314,"date":"2012-12-02T11:19:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/12\/advents-first-sunday\/"},"modified":"2013-12-07T11:16:41","modified_gmt":"2013-12-07T15:16:41","slug":"advents-first-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/12\/advents-first-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent’s First Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Sunday Angelus today, the Holy Father notes some crucial points about our Christian faith that can’t go unheard and need to be savored deeply in the heart. Notice, please, that Benedict doesn’t talk about expectation but he does speak of the Lord’s coming and presence; his death and resurrection and our final destiny (that is, love) and doesn’t mention the Christ Child as the exclusive image of Advent. The Cross, resurrection and ascension is our only Hope. Pope Benedict addressed the faithful with the following:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Advent.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today the Church\u00a0begins a new liturgical year, a path that is further enriched by the Year of\u00a0Faith, 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first Time\u00a0of this journey is Advent<\/span>, composed, in the Roman Rite, of the four weeks that\u00a0precede the Birth of the Lord, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation. The\u00a0word “Advent<\/span>” means “coming<\/b>” or “presence<\/b>.” In the ancient world, it signified\u00a0the coming of the king or the emperor into one of the provinces; in the\u00a0language of Christians, it referred to the coming of God, to His presence in\u00a0the world; a mystery that involves the whole of the cosmos and of history, but\u00a0that recognises two culminating moments: the first and the second coming of\u00a0Jesus Christ. The first is the Incarnation itself; the second is the glorious\u00a0return at the end of time. These two moments<\/span>, chronologically distant – and it\u00a0is not given to us to know how far apart they are – touch us deeply, because by\u00a0<\/b>His death and resurrection Jesus has already accomplished that transformation\u00a0<\/b>of humanity<\/b> and<\/span> of the cosmos that is the final goal of creation<\/b>. But before\u00a0that end, it is necessary that the Gospel be proclaimed to all nations, as\u00a0Jesus says in the Gospel of Saint Mark. The coming of Christ is continuous; the\u00a0world must be infused by His presence. This permanent coming of the Lord in the\u00a0proclamation of the Gospel requires our continual collaboration; and the\u00a0Church, which is like the Betrothed, the promised Bride of the crucified and\u00a0risen Lamb of God (cfr. Rev. 21,9), in communion with her Lord collaborates in\u00a0this coming of the Lord, in which His glorious return is already begun.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is to this that the Word of God recalls us today, tracing out a line of conduct to pursue in order to be ready for the coming of the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says to the disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life . . . Be vigilant at all times and pray.” So: simplicity and prayer. And the apostle Paul adds the invitation to “increase and abound in love” among ourselves and towards everyone, to strengthen our hearts and to be blameless in holiness (cfr. 1 Thess 3, 12-13). In the midst of the turmoil of the world, or the desert of indifference and materialism,\u00a0Christians accept the salvation of God<\/b>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0witness to it by a different way of life<\/b>, as a city set on a hill. “In those days,” the prophet Jeremiah proclaims, “Jerusalem shall dwell safely; this is the name they shall call her: ‘The Lord our justice'” (Jer 33,16). The community of believers is a sign of the love of God, of His justice that is already present and working in history, but not yet fully realised, and that therefore should always be awaited, invoked, and sought after with patience and courage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Virgin Mary perfectly embodies the spirit of Advent<\/span>, which consists of\u00a0listening<\/b>\u00a0to God, a\u00a0profound desire<\/b>\u00a0to do His will, and\u00a0joyful service<\/b>\u00a0to others. Let us be guided by her, so that God who is coming may not find us closed or distracted, but might extend to each of us a small part of His kingdom of love, of justice, and of peace.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Sunday Angelus today, the Holy Father notes some crucial points about our Christian faith that can’t go unheard and need to be savored deeply in the heart. Notice, please, that Benedict doesn’t talk about expectation but he does speak of the Lord’s coming and presence; his death and resurrection and our final destiny … Continue reading Advent’s First Sunday<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1827,32088,1892],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29649,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27314\/revisions\/29649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}