(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 27.11.2022).- At midday on November 27, Pope Francis offered the traditional Sunday reflection from the window of the papal apartment, after which he prayed the Angelus with those present. Hundreds of people listened to the Holy Father’s first Advent 2022 message, translated below in English, with headers and phrases in bold added by ZENIT.
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In the Gospel of today’s Liturgy we hear a beautiful promise that introduces us to the Season of Advent: “Your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). This is the foundation of our hope, it is what supports us even in the most difficult and painful moments of our life: God is coming, God is near and is coming. Let us never forget this! The Lord always comes, the Lord visits us, the Lord makes himself close, and will return at the end of time to welcome us in His embrace. Before this word, we ask ourselves: How will the Lord come? And how will we recognize Him and welcome Him? Let us dwell briefly on these two questions.
How Will the Lord Come?
The first question: how will the Lord come? Very often we hear it said that the Lord is present on our path, that He accompanies us and speaks to us. But perhaps, distracted as we are by many things, this truth remains merely theoretical for us; yes, we know that the Lord is coming but we do not live according to this truth, or we imagine that the Lord will come in a spectacular way, perhaps through some miraculous sign. And instead, Jesus says that He will come as in “the days of Noah” (cf. v. 37). And what did they do in the days of Noah? Simply, the normal, everyday things of life, as always: “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (v. 38). Let us bear this in mind: God is hidden in our life, He is always there – He is concealed in the commonest and most ordinary situations in our life. He does not come in extraordinary events, but in everyday things; He manifests Himself in everyday things. He is there, in our daily work, in a chance encounter, in the face of someone in need, even when we face days that seem grey and monotonous, it is right there that we find the Lord, who calls to us, speaks to us and inspires our actions.
How Can We Recognize and Welcome the Lord?
However, there is a second question: how can we recognize and welcome the Lord? We must be awake, alert, vigilant. Jesus warns us: there is the danger of not realizing His coming and being unprepared for His visit.
I have recalled on other occasions what Saint Augustine said: “I fear the Lord who passes by” (Sermons, 88, 14.13), that is, I fear that He will pass by and I will not recognize Him! Indeed, Jesus says that those people in the time of Noah ate and drank “and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away” (v. 39). Pay attention to this: they did not realize anything! They were absorbed in their own things and did not realize that the flood was about to come. Indeed, Jesus says that, when He will come, “two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left” (v. 40). In what sense? What is the difference? Simply that one was vigilant, he was waiting, capable of discerning God’s presence in daily life, whereas the other was distracted, “pulled along”, and did not notice anything.
Brothers and sisters, in this Season of Advent, let us be shaken out of our torpor and let us awaken from our slumber! Let’s try to ask ourselves: am I aware of what I am living, am I alert, am I awake? Do I try to recognize God’s presence in daily situations, or am I distracted and a little overwhelmed by things? If we are unaware of His coming today, we will also be unprepared when He arrives at the end of time. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us remain vigilant! Waiting for the Lord to come, waiting for the Lord to come close to us, because He is there, but waiting alert. And may the Holy Virgin, Woman of waiting, who knew how to perceive the passing of God in the humble and hidden life of Nazareth and welcomed Him in her womb, help us in this journey of being attentive to wait for the Lord who is among us and passes by.
Translation of the Italian original by the Holy See
