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“Pray and love: here is the clock. When the Church adores God and serves others, it does not live at night. Although she is tired and tried, she walks towards the Lord. “Pope Francis presided over Mass on the first Sunday of Advent in St. Peter’s Basilica. The new cardinals concelebrate with the Pontiff.
Bianca Fraccalvieri – Vatican City
“Lord, make us feel the desire to pray and the need to love.” With this invocation, Pope Francis concluded his homily by presiding over Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on this First Sunday of Advent.
The cardinals created yesterday in the Ordinary Public Consistory concelebrated with the Pontiff. Commenting on the readings of the day, Francisco highlights two words: proximity me surveillance.
Proximity to God and our vigilance
Advent, he said, is the time to remember the closeness of God, who has come down to us. The first step in faith, he explained, is to tell the Lord that we need him, his closeness. And the first message of Advent and the Liturgical Year is also to acknowledge God who is close.
Thus invoking your proximity, we will train our vigilance. This word is also repeated four times in this Sunday’s Gospel. It is important to be alert, because in life it is a mistake to lose oneself in a thousand things and not realize God. Carried away by our interests and distracted by so many vanities, we run the risk of losing what is essential. Looking is not being overwhelmed by discouragement, it is living with hope.
Faith is the opposite of mediocrity.
For the Pontiff, two dreams threaten us: the dream of mediocrity and that of indifference.
Mediocrity comes when we forget our first love and move forward only out of inertia, paying attention only to living in peace.
“And this erodes faith, because faith is the opposite of mediocrity: it is the burning desire of God, the continuous audacity to convert, the courage to love, it is always to move on. Faith is not water that quenches, but fire that burns ”.
The vigilance of prayer is what can wake us from the dream of mediocrity. Prayer oxygenates life: just as one cannot live without breathing, neither can one be a Christian without praying.
You cannot be a Christian without charity
Anyone who sleeps the dream of indifference sees everything the same, does not care who is near him. “When we orbit only around ourselves and our needs, indifferent to those of others, the night descends on the heart,” the Pope said.
It is a dream that currently affects many and we can only wake up with the vigilance of charity.
“Charity is the beating heart of the Christian: just as one cannot live without a pulse, neither can one be a Christian without charity.”
Helping others is not being a loser; On the contrary, it is to be victorious, because it is with works of mercy that we draw near to the Lord.
The last invitation of the Pope is to make the following invocation: “Come, Lord Jesus! You are the light: wake us up from the sleep of mediocrity; wake us up from the darkness of indifference. Come Lord Jesus! Make our distracted hearts watchful: make us feel the desire to pray and the need to love ”.
