First Sunday of Advent Read more
Homily
With this first Sunday of Advent starts the new liturgical year. We could compare this time to a spiritual pilgrimage towards that "holy mountain" mentioned by the prophet Isaiah in the reading that was proclaimed to us. We will not be groping, like those who do not know their destination. The Word of God will guide our steps. Every Sunday will help us, so that the spiritual human being with the traits of Jesus can grow in us. We could say that the aim of our pilgrimage is Jesus and the path towards our destination is traced by the Gospel. We will move our first steps on this first Sunday of Advent. The liturgical season of the Advent, as we know, is marked by the expectation of the Lord. It is true that Jesus comes to us at any time; rather, he stays with us every day, as he told his disciples before ascending to heaven. However, this liturgical season has a special grace, which is being more aware of Jesus as "the one who comes" to dwell among us.
This Sunday reminds us that He is the one who comes to meet us and begin the journey towards us, before we start our pilgrimage towards Jesus. However, you may not realize it. The reason is suggested by Jesus himself: "For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man." This is a severe warning that also reminds us of certain guilty lightness in considering the signs of the times: while many tragedies already cut down on the lives of peoples, particularly in the poor South of the world, rich people in many parts of the planet continue their lives as if nothing is happening.
Jesus’ words certainly want to condemn the moral decay of many behaviours, as well as the words of the Apostle Paul, who clearly points out in a letter to the Romans: "Let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy" (13:13). Jesus wants to call his disciples for active surveillance for the time that he is about to inaugurate. Certainly a self-centred and consumerist lifestyle weighs us down, makes us insensitive, and forces us to bend our eyes and our thoughts in the provincialism of individual and group interests. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that we face a heaviness of life, a generalized individualism. This Advent season is telling us that we need to refocus our gaze on Jesus. The Gospel calls us to a careful and vigilant lifestyle. Jesus is not afraid of comparing himself to a thief who comes suddenly: "Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming... if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into." This strange text is, indeed, an urgent call to vigilance. Jesus is coming, but we must have clear eyes to read the signs of his appearance. Advent is thus the appropriate time for "waking up from the sleepiness", as the Apostle Paul exhorts. The regular hearing of the Word of God and a greater focus on charity to the poor are concrete ways to stay "awake" while waiting for Jesus. "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:2).
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
