First Sunday of Advent
Memory of the blessed Charles of God (Charles de Foucauld), the "universal brother," killed in 1916 in the Algerian desert where he lived in prayer and in fraternity with the Tuareg people.
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First Sunday of Advent
Memory of the blessed Charles of God (Charles de Foucauld), the "universal brother," killed in 1916 in the Algerian desert where he lived in prayer and in fraternity with the Tuareg people.
First Reading
Isaiah 2,1-5
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It will happen in the final days that the mountain of Yahweh's house will rise higher than the mountains and tower above the heights. Then all the nations will stream to it, many peoples will come to it and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.' For the Law will issue from Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, no longer will they learn how to make war. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in Yahweh's light.
Psalmody
Psalm 121
Antiphon
Call for peace for Jerusalem.
'I rejoiced when I heard them say :
'Let us go to God's house'.
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built as a city
strongly compact.
It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel's law it is,
there to praise the Lord's name.
There were set the thrones of Judgement
of the house of David.
For the peace of Jerusalem pray :
'Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!'
For love of my brethren and friends
I say : 'Peace upon you!
For the love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.
Second Reading
Romans 13,11-14a
Besides, you know the time has come; the moment is here for you to stop sleeping and wake up, because by now our salvation is nearer than when we first began to believe. The night is nearly over, daylight is on the way; so let us throw off everything that belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light. Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies or drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop worrying about how your disordered natural inclinations may be fulfilled.
Reading of the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 24,37-44
'As it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept them all away. This is what it will be like when the Son of man comes. Then of two men in the fields, one is taken, one left; of two women grinding at the mill, one is taken, one left. 'So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Homily
With this first Sunday of Advent begins the new liturgical year, which the Church asks us to live as a spiritual pilgrimage towards the "mountain of the Lord's house," of which the prophet Isaiah speaks. It is not a journey without goal, tossed about by circumstance. Our goal is clearly defined. It is the heavenly Jerusalem. And the Word of God will guide our steps, day after day, Sunday after Sunday. Advent marks these days with a particular grace, because it helps us understand Jesus as "he who comes," he who leaves heaven to come and live with us on earth.
He is the one who comes towards us, more than we go towards him. We are usually so focused on ourselves that we do not notice his coming. This is the reason for the Gospel's warning to be vigilant, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." Even the Apostle Paul insists, "It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." And he explains, "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). The apostle invites us to be vigilant and to keep working, not to be static, so that our lives can bear fruit during the season that opens before us. Indeed, the season of Advent is a good time for us to start listening to the Word of God again and turn our gaze towards Jesus, who is coming among men and women. This is the second reflection that Word of God offers us. In order to help us understand the urgency of making a decision to turn our eyes towards our goal, Jesus speaks of the last days using the typical language of his time. And indeed, these are the last days for each of us, because they will never come back again. If we do not listen to Jesus' exhortation today, we will miss our chance to hear it. Jesus goes as far as to compare himself to thief who comes unexpectedly: "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." These striking words remind us to be vigilant, that is, not to be distracted, resigned, or lazy. Being vigilant means praying, paying attention to the poor, and recognizing the signs of God's presence in the world. All of this purifies the eyes of the heart and mind. It gives us clear eyes that can recognize the signs of his arrival. Advent is truly a good time for us to "wake from sleep," to get up from the comfortable bed of our selfish habits and to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," to put on his feelings, to go out to meet him as he comes to live with us and guide us toward a future of love and peace, knowing that this dream is for all, as the prophet writes, "Many peoples shall come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord'" (Is 2:3).
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
