Papal preacher: Advent is a time of trusting expectation
By Benedetta Capelli
We are “not lost wayfarers” but “sentinels that, in the night of the world, humbly maintain the confidence” that they will see the light “capable of illuminating every man,” says Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the Papal Household, in the first of three Advent meditations on the theme “Awaiting and hastening the coming of the Day of the Lord.”
In his reflection on the first Friday in Advent 2025, Fr Pasolini focused on “the Parousia of the Lord” and on the unique time period we are experiencing: the conclusion of the Jubilee of Hope. “Advent is the time in which the Church rekindles hope,” he emphasized, “contemplating not only the first coming of the Lord, but above all his return at the end of times.”
It is the moment in which we are called “we are called to wait, and at the same time hasten the coming of the Lord with serene and active vigilance.”
Recognizing grace
“Parousia” is a term used by the evangelist Matthew four times in chapter 24 of his Gospel. It is a word with a double meaning: both “presence” and “coming.”
Jesus compares the anticipation of His coming to the days of Noah before the Great Flood. Those were days when life flowed normally, and Noah alone built the ark, the instrument of salvation. His story raises questions necessary to understand what modern man must acknowledge. Faced with new and complex challenges, “the Church is called to remain a sacrament of salvation in an era of change.”
Father Pasolini emphasizes, “Peace remains a mirage in many regions unless longstanding injustices and wounded memories find healing, while in Western culture the sense of transcendence is weakened, crushed by the idols of efficiency, wealth and technology. The advent of artificial intelligence amplifies the temptation of a human being without limits and without transcendence.”
The mystery of a God Who trusts in humanity
However, he continues, recognition is not enough; we must be aware of “the direction in which the Kingdom of God continues to move within history,” returning to the prophetic capacity received in Baptism. We must similarly recognize the grace of God, “that gift of universal salvation which the Church humbly celebrates and offers, so that human life may be raised up from the burden of sin and freed from the fear of death.” The ministers of the Church must be careful to avoid becoming so familiar with God that they take it for granted. And so each generation must come to realize “the mystery of a God who… continues to stand before His creation with unshakeable trust, in the expectation that better days can—and must—still come.”
Eliminating evil
The preacher of the Papal Household reminds us that in order to rediscover the face of God that accompanies “His wounded creation,” we must draw on the story of the universal flood, when the Lord sees evil in the human heart. Human beings cannot overcome that evil simply by changing or evolving; the truth is, humanity needs not only to fulfill itself but to be saved.
“Evil must not simply be forgiven,” Fr Pasolini says. “It must be erased, so that life can finally flourish in its truth and beauty.”
Erasing, in the cancel culture in which humanity today is immersed, is not just destroying everything, eliminating what seems burdensome in others. “Every day we erase many things, without feeling guilty and without doing any harm,” Fr Pasolini said. “We delete messages, useless files, mistakes in a document, stains, traces, debts. On the contrary, many of these gestures are necessary to help our relationships mature and make the world livable.”
Erasing in the context of Advent means opening ourselves to God, starting from our own fragility, and allowing Him to heal us.”
Life flourishes by putting God back at the center
The Lord never tires of finding “a wise man, one who seeks God,” just as He found Noah, who in turn recognized the Lord's grace. In the man on the ark, God finds the possibility of erasing and starting over. “Only when man returns to living before the true face of God can history truly change,” the Capuchin insisted, adding, “the story of the flood reminds us that life flourishes again only when we rebuild heaven, to the extent that we put God back at the centre.”
Father Pasolini continues, “The flood, therefore, is not simple destruction, but a transition of re-creation through a moment of de-creation… It is a temporary change of the rules of the game, to save the very game that God had inaugurated with confidence.”
Choosing not to harm
The flood is therefore “a paradoxical renewal of life.” God does not forget humanity; He places His bow in the clouds as a sign of covenant; the Lord lays down his weapons with a solemn declaration of non-violence.
“It may seem like a bold metaphor,” Fr Pasolini said, “almost inappropriate when speaking of God and the way His grace manifests itself.”
And yet, he continued, “after millennia of history and evolution, humanity is still far from knowing how to imitate it.” The earth, in fact, “The earth continues to be torn apart by atrocious and endless conflicts, which give no respite to so many weak and defenceless people.”
For this reason, the decision of those who, despite having the ability, voluntarily choose not to harm others is reassuring, because they understand that only by accepting others “can our alliance [with one another] be lasting, true, and free.”
The time of goodness
“Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”: this is Jesus' final counsel. Not knowing the day and hour of this coming has created great anticipation in the past, the preacher noted, but today things seem to have reversed: “The expectation has diminished so much that it has sometimes given way to a subtle resignation about its actual fulfilment… today, a weary vigilance, tempted by discouragement, often prevails.”
The time of waiting is the time to sow goodness and await the coming of Jesus Christ. The papal preacher warned of two great temptations that affect humanity and the Church: “forgetting the need to be saved and thinking that we can regain consensus by taking care of the outward appearance of our image and reducing the radical nature of the Gospel.”
Instead, Fr Pasolini said, we must return “to the joy – and also the hardship – of following, without taming Christ’s word.” Only as “sentinels upon the world’s frontier,” –as the monk Thomas Merton wrote – can we await the return of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment