The Advent call for “vigilance” does not mean staying awake and watchful out of fear, but rather out of a longing for the coming of the Lord, Pope Francis wrote. Sometimes people think of vigilance “as an attitude motivated by fear of impending doom, as if a meteorite were about to plunge from the sky,” he said in the text of his commentary on the Gospel reading for 3rd December, the first Sunday of Advent.
Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer from his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, but explained that his bronchitis, while improving, was still making it difficult to speak, so the text of his commentary and of his appeals for peace were read by Msgr. Paolo Braida, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
In the Gospel reading, Mark 13:33-37, Jesus tells the parable of the servants awaiting their master’s return. “The servants’ vigilance is not one of fear, but of longing, of waiting to go forth to meet their Lord who is coming,” the pope’s text said. That kind of vigilance and expectation should mark the watchfulness of Christians as they prepare to welcome Jesus at Christmas, to welcome him at the end of time and, he said, to welcome him “as he comes to meet us in the Eucharist, in his word (and) in our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.”
Picture: (CNS photo/Vatican Media)