OMELIE / Omelie EN

26/6/2016

27/11/2016 -1 Sunday of Advent – A

1 Sunday of Advent – A

1^st reading Isaiah 2,1-5, from Psalm 121/122; 2 reading Romans 13,11-14a; Gospel Matthew 24, 37-44

Starting a liturgical year means restarting to know Jesus, to renew and rediscover the first love for him! The liturgy of this Sunday speaks to us with insistence of the major anticipated encounter: God waits it because He wants to enjoy all his creatures and his children, and His coming is waited by men, who know that life on this earth has to come to an end, to a conclusion. That day will be special. There are those who wait for it with fear, and those who want to hasten its coming, because they know that it will be full of joy! Speaking of that day Jesus himself is aware of both these two attitudes. He calls the day “the day of the coming of the Son of Man”, and he compares it to the days in which Noah waited the Flood, thinking of building the ark. Noah, even if he is so far in time, becomes an actual example. He knew that the world in which he lived, was far away from God. He was aware that men were unsatisfied, unhappy, sad, and they tried to find a remedy for their own sadness in the search to possesses more or to increase the satisfaction of the flesh, without thinking of the sufferings that they cause to others. They were all thinking about themselves, they were all thinking about many different things, and they were not aware of the presence of the one who created them and did not look for his own desires or his own counsels. They lived in this visible world as if the invisible one did not exist, in this world which goes by as if eternity does not exist. This is what is happening today, this is our world. We are overwhelmed, without knowing, by many problems, many times artificial and superficial, even if they are not bad in themselves. These problems take our attention from seeing, and thus, from accepting the Lord who is coming for us.

Noah was not overwhelmed from the Flood because he did not make this world his idol, he did not conform to the opinions of that moment. He was attentive of the voice which did not come from the things and from the interests of this world. He saw that the life of man must however remain always in the hands of that God who created it, so, his own ears were attentive to hear His Word. And this notwithstanding the fact that he was aware that he was going against the current. The Great Flood will not repeat itself, because God promised it, but every day other things, other inconveniences will come for the single persons or for single people who have the same impact of the flood. Storms and hurricanes come, droughts, earthquakes and maladies of various types which overcome and change life. Whoever follows the example of Noah, living in the holy fear of God, will not be overcome, can still cherish hope, and his life will be a gift for many. Who on the other hand will not have his ears attuned to the voice of God, will fall in desperation, will die out of fear, will be overwhelmed by the end of what he thinks will remain forever. “One will be taken and the other will remain”, says Jesus. Vigilance is always necessary: “Be awake then, because you do not know in which day the Lord will come”. Being awake, being aware, recognizing where we are, this is also the exhortation of the apostle. As if he is saying that we are still asleep, that is, we do not know what is happening, as if we are in a permanent coma: the others may do what they want with you, without you having the awareness, without you having the freedom which has been given to you.

“It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep…let us put on the armor of light”: the games or the entertainments suggested or proposed or imposed by the world are not for us. “Drunken orgies, promiscuity, licentiousness”, which produce “wrangling and jealousy”, are the work of the evil one which tries to make us his slaves. Do we want to be in the hands of the Lord? If yes, we must stay away of these works, we must immerse ourselves in prayers and in the hearing of the word of God. Let us move on, as the prophet Isaiah tells us, to “go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us his ways and so we can walk in his paths”. Whoever desires salvation has only this way to follow, this only possibility. Only the God who is known and manifested by Israel wants and is able to destroy the swords, to turn swords into ploughshares. He to make us people of peace and will not put in the hands of any people the weapons against other nations. We want to listen to this God, because He is the only God who makes us brothers one of the other. For this reason we must be in vigil, not to give importance to other false divinities publicized by the interests of superb and violent people.

The new liturgical year will put before our eyes Jesus: He is the Word of the Only God who loves men, all, without distinction. We try to deepen our own knowledge of Him because He has a lot to tell us and give us in new situations which we have to face.