A Homily to be Preached at a Public Mass in Convent of Augustinian Nuns

3rd December 2007 - Monday of the 1st Week of Advent (Readings)
[Please pray that this will still be understandable when I render it into Italian]

Sisters and brothers, we find ourselves at the start of the new liturgical year, during the season of Advent. This word Advent comes from the Latin verb advenio and refers to the arrival or coming of the Lord. It is a time of preparation and expectation. Despite not having the strong penitential character of Lent, it is a sober time and one during which we are encouraged to have a conversion of heart in order that we might be ready to welcome the Lord when he comes. In short, Advent is a time of hope – because the Lord is faithful to his promises, and therefore our preparations will not be in vain.
It is therefore very fitting that the Holy Father should give us as an Advent-present his new Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi. He addresses us his words on Christian hope, as we enter this period which is built around the hope of the Christian in the Coming of the Lord.

But what do we mean by the Coming of the Lord? Has not the Lord already come? Is Advent not just the preparation for Christmas, the feast that celebrates the Son of God entering the world? This is true, but our focus is elsewhere during the first half of Advent. We are invited to reflect on the Second Coming of the Lord. The word Advent, Adventus, translates into Greek as Parousia – the word used to refer to coming of the Lord in glory and judgement at the end of times. Looking around the world, we see that there is much injustice and suffering – and if history is to make sense, then there is need for a final, decisive intervention from above. What else does Isaiah mean when he speaks of “the blast of judgement and the blast of destruction” when “Lord will come and rest on the whole stretch of Mount Zion and on those who are gathered there, a cloud by day, and smoke, and by night the brightness of a flaring fire.”

The image is terrifying – but we must not be afraid. It is not intended as a threat but it is a call to responsibility and hope. The Holy Father tells us, “From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice.” (Spe Salvi, 41)
We hear the Lord speak of this same hour of justice in the Gospel when he says “many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.” Do not forget, He makes this promise in response to the astonishing faith of the Centurion. Let us take this Centurion as our model and welcome the Lord with humility. If we trust in Him and His justice, He we can be sure that will guide us through this season of preparation and make firm within us His hope.