Sunday 27th November 2022
First Sunday of Advent
Year A
Mutual love is a debt that brothers have to each other, the only debt that a Christian has or should have.
Fr Primo Mazzolari wrote: «Everyone’s life is one of waiting. The present is not enough for anyone. At first it seems that something is missing: later we realize that Someone is missing. And we await him ».
These words offer us the profound meaning of the season of Advent because they help us to recognize what we still lack: Jesus Christ, the fullness of man and the revelation of God.
The theme treated by Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 24: 37-44) is eschatological, but Jesus – and on this we must be
clear – does not describe the future: he directs us to the future by inviting us to be vigilant in the present. Jesus introduces his audience to the story of the universal flood, where Noah is the protagonist. Yet He does not intend to scare anyone. Rather invite those who listen to him to live in the light of fulfillment. Here then is the final exhortation: “Watch therefore, because you do not know in what day your Lord will come. ” History, even with its troubles, is the place of God’s hope and of man’s hope too. In history, as the oracle of Isaiah (Is 2: 1-5) attests, God has introduced an energy that transfigures the impulses of death into sources of life. The ways of God and the light of his word are the conditions through
which the Messiah will restore justice and peace among all peoples. If this prophecy finds its fulfilment in Jesus, Paul (Rm 13,8-10) exhorts us to charity seen as the fulfillment of the whole Law. Mutual love is a debt that brothers have to each other, the only debt a Christian should have. This means loving one’s neighbour is a must.
These words offer us the profound meaning of the season of Advent because they help us to recognize what we still lack: Jesus Christ, the fullness of man and the revelation of God.
The theme treated by Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 24: 37-44) is eschatological, but Jesus – and on this we must be
clear – does not describe the future: he directs us to the future by inviting us to be vigilant in the present. Jesus introduces his audience to the story of the universal flood, where Noah is the protagonist. Yet He does not intend to scare anyone. Rather invite those who listen to him to live in the light of fulfillment. Here then is the final exhortation: “Watch therefore, because you do not know in what day your Lord will come. ” History, even with its troubles, is the place of God’s hope and of man’s hope too. In history, as the oracle of Isaiah (Is 2: 1-5) attests, God has introduced an energy that transfigures the impulses of death into sources of life. The ways of God and the light of his word are the conditions through
which the Messiah will restore justice and peace among all peoples. If this prophecy finds its fulfilment in Jesus, Paul (Rm 13,8-10) exhorts us to charity seen as the fulfillment of the whole Law. Mutual love is a debt that brothers have to each other, the only debt a Christian should have. This means loving one’s neighbour is a must.
Commento a cura di d. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia