Pope at Angelus: Opening our
hearts to welcome Jesus
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| Pope Francis at the Angelus, seen through the branches of the Christmas tree in St Peter's Square.(Vatican Media) |
Wakefulness and prayer are two key attitudes that will help
us have a good Advent, says Pope Francis during the Sunday Angelus.
By Christopher Wells
In his reflection at the Angelus on
the First Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that
Advent is not just a time of preparation for Christmas: we are also looking
forward to the return of Christ at the end of time, as well as our own,
personal encounter with Jesus at the end of our lives. In these four weeks of
Advent, he said, “called to leave a resigned and routine way of living, and to go
forth, nurturing hopes and dreams for a new future.”
Wakefulness
The Holy Father highlighted two key attitudes that will help
us have a good Advent: wakefulness, and prayer. Advent, he said, calls us to
“stay awake,” to be vigilant, “looking outside ourselves, enlarging our minds
and our hearts to be open to the needs of the people, of our brothers and
sisters, and to the desire for a new world.”
Prayer
Closely tied to vigilance is the idea of prayer. “It’s a
matter of standing up and praying, turning our thoughts and our hearts to Jesus
who is about to come,” the Pope explained. “We stand up when we’re expecting
someone.” He warned that if we see Christmas only through the lens of
consumerism, as a “worldly celebration,” then “Jesus will pass us by, and we
will not find Him.” Let us await Jesus, Pope Francis said, "and let us
desire to await Him in prayer.”
It is Jesus who comes
In the Old Testament reading for Sunday, Jeremiah speaks
harshly to his people, who are at risk of losing their identity. “We
Christians, too,” the Pope said, “risk becoming worldly and losing our
identity, indeed, of 'paganizing' the Christian style.” And so, he concluded,
we stand in need of the Word of God, which proclaims “Behold, the days are
coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfil the promise I made… I will raise up
for David a just shoot; He shall do what is right and just in the land” And
that just shoot, the Pope said, “is Jesus, it is Jesus who comes whom we
await.”
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