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Pope
Benedict's Advent Thoughts
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Advent looks both to the first coming of the Son of God, when He was born of the Virgin Mary, and to His glorious return, when He will come 'to judge the living and the dead'. Expectation and awaiting represent a dimension that touches our entire individual, family and social existence. Expectation is present in many situations, from the smallest and most insignificant to the most important. These include a couple expecting a child; awaiting a relative or friend who comes to visit us from far way ... the expectation of the result of some decisive examination; ... the expectation of meeting the loved one. We could say that man is alive so long as he expects, so long as hope remains alive his heart. And man can be recognised by his expectations: our moral and spiritual 'stature' may be measured by what our hopes are". In this time of preparation for Christmas each of us may ask ourselves: what do I expect? And this same question can be posed at the level of the family, the community, the nation. What do we expect together? What unites our aspirations, what brings us together? In Israel in the period prior to Jesus' birth there was a very strong expectation of the Messiah, ... who would free the people from all moral and political slavery and establish the Kingdom of God. But no one could have imagined that the Messiah would be born of a humble girl like Mary, who had been promised in marriage to the good Joseph. Neither could she have imagined it; yet in her heart the expectation of the Savior was so great, her faith and hope so ardent, that in her He could find a worthy mother. ... There is a mysterious correspondence between the expectation of God and that of Mary, the creature 'full of grace', completely transparent before the Almighty's plan of love. Let us learn from her, the woman of Advent, to live daily life with a new spirit, with feelings of profound expectation which only the coming of God can satisfy. |
