Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is a wonderful word to begin this new liturgical year on this First Sunday of Advent. It is a precious word and an invitation to live the three theological virtues. We know that the three theological virtues are faith, hope and charity and the greatest of these is love or charity. They all have one characteristic in common: we cannot acquire them on our own. They are theological virtues which means they are given by God as a wonderful gift in our life.
We need these three virtues this Advent because it is a time of waiting. You and I are invited to wait, to stay awake and to watch, to be vigilant. The Lord invites us to wait, to be patient and for this we need the virtue of hope. We can’t do anything to acquire hope as I was saying, so ask the Lord for it. This is the only thing we can do: ask him for these gifts.
In this Advent season that we are now in, we seriously need his love so that we can welcome him when he comes to our life. Ask him for the virtue of hope which is the ability to wait. Also, in the gospel it says, “you will see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory.” The Lord comes to our lives like the wind and we are called to wait for him.
The word Advent means someone is coming. Our Lord is ‘the Coming One.’ The king is coming with glory, and he comes with power, and he is the only one who can make you happy. This season is a joyful time that leads up to Christmas, a special time in the family and to be together. However, it emphasizes something more: to be in expectation, to be waiting for the Lord. He will come and he will come with power, not to take anything away from us, except our sins. He comes to take away our idols, to free us from them. When I experience the coming of the Lord in my life with power, at that moment I can say that I have faith.
There is a third theological virtue in addition to hope and faith. When I experience the power of God in my life, in my weaknesses, in the face of my sins and idolatries, then I can experience the other theological virtue, which is the greatest one: LOVE. At that moment the Lord lets you see your liberation, his power to set you free. He does not come to make you more unhappy. He comes to make you happy. He comes so that you will be a Christian. He comes so that you will have eternal life and you will have it in abundance, especially when you feel forgiven.
I don’t know what slavery you need to be freed from today, but you need someone to do that for you. A slave needs to be freed by another. He cannot do it himself. He needs someone to buy him back, to ransom him. Christ has already bought you at a great price, his blood, which has washed away your chains. Let us await his coming during this Advent, which is different from last year’s. The Lord is coming in whatever situation you find yourself in your life, in your history, in the events in front of you today.
The parable of the ten talents or the ten gold coins comes to mind. These coins represent the love of God for you. It is not important how many your received but what you did with them. He strongly corrects the one who buried his one coin and says you could at least have put it in the bank to earn interest. God is not asking for you to do extraordinary things that require a huge effort. Just go to the bank, open an account and deposit the coin. Don’t sit on it. He repays with enormous generosity. The one with the ten coins received ten cities and the same with the one who received five coins.
Christ will come to you through his word, through the preaching. The only thing he will say to you is: what can I do for you. When Christ passes, he will always say, what can I do for you? How wonderful is that. He never imposes anything on us. He only asks if you are ready to say what you need. Lord, that I may see, Lord, that I may love, Lord, give me the happiness of having you at my side! I wish you a happy Advent, brothers and sisters. May the Lord grant us a real experience of His Coming, of his freedom. Christ has come to set us free not ‘from something’, but ‘for something’. He wants you to love. Only a free man or woman can do so. Happy Advent!