ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint
Peter's Square
Sunday, 4 December 2016
Sunday, 4 December 2016
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| PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO |
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good
morning!
In the Gospel given this second Sunday of Advent,
John the Baptist’s invitation resounds: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand!” (Mt 3:2). With these very words, Jesus begins his mission in
Galilee (cf. Mt 4:17); and such will also be the message that the disciples
must bring on their first missionary experience (cf. Mt 10:7). Matthew the
evangelist would like to present John as the one who prepares the way of the
coming Christ, as well as the disciples as followers, as Jesus preached. It is
a matter of the same joyful message: the kingdom of God is at hand! It is near,
and it is in us! These words are very important: “The kingdom of God is in our
midst!”, Jesus says. And John announces what Jesus will say later: “The kingdom
of God is at hand, it has arrived, and is in your midst”. This is the central
message of every Christian mission. When a missionary goes, a Christian goes to
proclaim Jesus, not to proselytize, as if he were a fan trying to drum up new
supporters for his team. No, he goes simply to proclaim: “The kingdom of God is
in our midst!”. And in this way, the missionaries prepare the path for Jesus to
encounter the people.
But what is this kingdom of God, this kingdom of
heaven? They are synonymous. We think immediately of the afterlife: eternal
life. Of course this is true, the kingdom of God will extend without limit
beyond earthly life, but the good news that Jesus brings us — and that John
predicts — is that we do not need to wait for the kingdom of God in the future:
it is at hand. In some way it is already present and we may experience
spiritual power from now on. “The kingdom of God is in your midst!”, Jesus will
say. God comes to establish his lordship in our history, today, every day, in
our life; and there — where it is welcomed with faith and humility — love, joy
and peace blossom.
The condition for entering and being a part of this
kingdom is to implement a change in our life, which is to convert, to
convert every day, to take a step forward each day. It is a question of leaving
behind the comfortable but misleading ways of the idols of this world: success
at all costs; power to the detriment of the weak; the desire for wealth;
pleasure at any price. And instead, preparing the way of the Lord: this does
not take away our freedom, but gives us true happiness. With the birth of Jesus
in Bethlehem, it is God himself who abides among us to free us from self
interest, sin and corruption, from these manners of the devil: seeking success
at all costs; seeking power to the detriment of the weak; having the desire for
wealth; seeking pleasure at any price.
Christmas is a day of great joy, even external, but
above all, it is a religious event for which a spiritual preparation is
necessary. In this season of Advent, let us be guided by the Baptist’s
exhortation: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”, he
tells us (v. 3). We prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight
when we examine our conscience, when we scrutinize our attitudes, in order to
eliminate these sinful manners that I mentioned, which are not from God:
success at all costs; power to the detriment of the weak; the desire for
wealth; pleasure at any price.
May the Virgin Mary help us to prepare ourselves
for the encounter with this ever greater Love, which is what Jesus brings and
which, on Christmas night, becomes very very small, like a seed fallen on the
soil. And Jesus is this seed: the seed of the kingdom of God.
After the
Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I extend my greetings to
you, Romans and pilgrims!
I greet in particular, the faithful from Cordoba,
Jaén and Valencia, Spain; from Split and Makarska, Croatia; from the parishes
of Saint Mary of the Oration and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in
Rome.
I wish you all a blessed Sunday and a good Advent
journey, to prepare the way of the Lord, by converting each day.
We will see each other on Thursday for the Feast of
the Immaculate Conception. In these days, we pray together asking her maternal
intercession for the conversion of hearts and the gift of peace.
And please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your
lunch. See you Thursday!
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