OMELIE / Omelie EN

28 nov 2021

28/11/2021 – 1st Sunday of Advent - C

28/11/2021 – 1^st Sunday of Advent - C

Reading 1 JER 33,14-16 Psalm 24/25 Reading 2 1THES 3,12.13-4,2 Gospel LK 21,25-28.34-36

We begin the new liturgical year: we celebrate again in it the whole life and the whole mystery of the coming and presence of Jesus, the Son of God, and the offering He has done of Himself to the Father for us, sinners. The Gospels will be taken from the writings of the evangelist Luke, almost every time, but for some Sundays in Christmas time and in Lent. God’s Word will accompany us and will motivate us, so our journey towards conversion may progress, our journey back to the Father. This journey will never end, nay, the more we progress, the more we realise the distance that is still between us and Him. But, and here lays our consolation, we are not the ones who need to reach God, because He is the one making Himself the protagonist, He is the one who wants to come to meet us.

This is exactly what the prophet Jeremiah is reminding us of today. God has promised and He delivers. He has promised to save us and He sends “a righteous branch” that is pouring on earth for us a goodness which men have never seen or experienced. This branch we know already what is called, and therefore we prepare ourselves again to wait for His coming. He has already sprouted, but He keeps starting over, because we, unfortunately, keep going back to our old lifestyle of living a life full of selfishness.

We have grown used to appreciate the very egotistical way of living which is making us suffer. We feel like we can find satisfaction in it, and we would not like to leave it. It is this egotistical lifestyle, concentrated on ourselves, which is closing us to others and is impairing the communion which would give joy and enthusiasm to our life.

In order to welcome the one who God has promised, the righteous Branch, we would need to leave behind, abandon and reject the way to be and to live we have grown used to. This is scary, and the first impression that hits us is that the world is falling down on us, that the sun and the moon are not the same anymore, we are not sure anymore.

Jesus, in the talk He gave to his disciples, has described well, and with energy, this situation, and He is making us this strong recommendation: “Be vigilant at all time and pray”. Do we want joy or not? Do we want a new life for us and for men around us or not? Then we will grow the desire for the “salvation” which has been promised to us, so we can wait for it every day and ask for it insistently in our prayers. Which is the prayer that will accompany us? The one showing the desire to enter God’s heart in order to feel loved by Him and to draw from it an ability to love equal to His. The prayer which is making the Father’s heart happy the most is calling out Jesus' name, who He is sending us as the Saviour.

Saint Paul is praying the Lord, and at the same time he recommending us to show attention and love to our brethren, a love “for one another and for all”, the one that Jesus Himself has commanded when He said: “love one another”. This is the way to be vigilant, the way in which we can wait and fully welcome the “righteous branch” which is coming to change the face of the earth.

We can begin in this way the time of Advent with the burning desire of Jesus' presence and with renewed attention to our brethren!