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Liturgy of the Sunday
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Liturgy of the Sunday

First Sunday of Advent Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, December 1

Homily

With this first Sunday of Advent the new liturgical year starts. We could compare this time to a spiritual pilgrimage towards that “mountain of the Lord’s house” mentioned by the prophet Isaiah. 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 person with the traits of Jesus can grow in us. The goal of our pilgrimage is Jesus and the path towards our destination is traced by the Gospel. We will start our first steps on this first Sunday of Advent. The liturgical season of Advent, as we know, is marked by waiting for 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: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20b). However, this liturgical season has a special grace, namely, being more aware of Jesus as “the one who comes” to dwell among us.
He is the one who begins the journey toward us rather than the opposite. We may not realize this as we are caught by ourselves and our personal concerns. Jesus’ warning to his disciples that the Gospel repurposed to us this Sunday sounds true also for us: “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 connects well to Paul’s exhortation in the Letter to the Romans: “It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” and then he explains what he means by this relating it also to himself: “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). It is the invitation to watch while working so that we may live fruitfully the time in front of us. The Word of God warns us that a self-centred lifestyle weighs our heart down, obfuscates our mind and forces us to fix our eyes and our thoughts in the small field of individual and group interests. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that individualism gains more ground in us and in society. Everything seems to be overwhelmed by a culture that has no hope in a new time rather it pushes us to resign to a sad and grey world.
This Advent season comes as the right time to listen to Word of God to refocus our gaze on Jesus who comes to plant his tent among us. The Gospel insists with a language typical of the last times – and these are the last times for us - that we all adopt a lifestyle that is less self-referential and more attentive to the Gospel and to its demands. 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 a call to vigilance. Vigilance means to pray, to listen to the Gospel, to care about the poor, and to see the signs of the presence of God in the world. The Lord is telling us that he is coming, but we must have clear eyes to read the signs of his passage. Advent is thus the appropriate time for “waking up from the sleepiness.” therefore not only do we need to leave our habits but also to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” as the Apostle Paul exhorts, as we “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!