Fr. Pasolini’s first Advent Sermon: ‘Open our hearts to wonder of God’s newness’

By Alessandro Di Bussolo and Isabella Piro

Wonder at the newness of God – the mystery of the Incarnation – is “the first awakening movement of the heart” as we move toward the celebration of the Lord’s birth at Christmas and prepare to pass through the door of jubilee with renewed hope.

We are called to be inspired by Mary’s wonder after the announcement of the angel Gabriel, who “allows herself to be drawn naturally” into God’s project and desires to “participate in it freely and consciously”. To achieve this, we must first dissolve the rigidity of our heart, by saying “no” to everything that risks locking us in and weighing us down: fear, resignation and cynicism. Only then will “we be able to see everything with new eyes, recognizing the seeds of the Gospel already present in reality” and ready to bring God’s hope to the world.

Father Roberto Pasolini, a Capuchin Franciscan friar and new preacher of the Papal Household, offered this inspiration Friday morning to Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican.

The theme chosen for the three Advent sermons is “The Gates of Hope: Toward the Opening of the Holy Year through Christmas Prophecy.”

Open the door of wonders

After expressing his deep gratitude to his predecessor, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, “preacher of the joy and light of the Gospel” to the Papal Household for 44 years, Father Pasolini invited everyone to open “ The door of wonders”, theme of his first meditation.

He began by focusing on the voices of the prophets, Elizabeth’s “courage to dissent” and Mary’s “humility to adhere.” The prophets, those who “deeply understand the meaning of historical events”, indicate to us, according to Father Pasolini, facing the challenge of Advent: “to notice the presence and action of God in history and to marvel in front of what he not only can do but above all still desires to accomplish in our lives and in the history of the world.”

Voices of the Prophets: A Warning Leading to Hope

Highlighting how the liturgy immerses us in many prophetic texts during this season, Fr. Pasolini stressed that their voices can never leave us indifferent.

As Jeremiah teaches, they produce two effects in us: warning, which then opens us to hope because “God reaffirms his faithful love and offers his people a new opportunity”.

These are words that we find difficult to hear, especially “when the voice of God seeks to reopen the channels of hope”, because “accepting the good news is not easy, especially when reality has long been marked through suffering, disappointment and uncertainty. The temptation to believe that nothing new can happen often creeps into our hearts.

Yet voices like Isaiah’s: “See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth; don’t you notice it? » – reach us precisely where we are tempted to think that reality can no longer offer new glimmers.

The challenge is therefore to awaken “wonder” at what God “still desires to accomplish in our lives and in the history of the world”.

Example of Elizabeth and Mary

To prepare us to listen to these prophetic voices, Father Pasolini highlighted two female figures, Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary, who embody the two fundamental attitudes necessary to generate in us a dynamic of salvation.

Elizabeth courageously said “no” to the apparent continuity of things and relationships, while Mary of Nazareth illustrated the need to say “yes” to the newness of God, formulating a free and joyful consent to his will.

Father Pasolini reflected on the story of Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias, told by the evangelist Luke. Zacharias, an elderly priest, is “unable to accept with confidence the announcement of a long-desired but seemingly impossible event”: the birth of a son.

Because of his lack of faith, he was rendered mute until the circumcision of John, the name indicated by the angel. When relatives suggest naming the child after his father, Elizabeth intervenes: “No, he will be called John.”

Zechariah means “God remembers,” while John means “God is merciful.” The new name, Fr. Pasolini explained, shifts the focus to the present and “suggests that history, although influenced by its heritage, is always capable of transcending itself and opening itself to new possibilities when God acts.”

Zechariah writes his agreement on John’s name on a tablet and finds his voice.

Discover that the best is yet to come

For the papal preacher, Elizabeth’s reaction suggests that “sometimes it is necessary to interrupt the course of events to open oneself to the newness of God.”

“Today more than ever, at an extraordinary time in human history,” Fr. Pasolini noted: “we must rediscover this type of spiritual perspective on reality,” in which “alongside grave injustices, wars and violence that afflict every corner of the world, new discoveries and promising paths of liberation emerge “.

Focused as we are on the present, “we find it difficult to invest in the future and tend to imagine tomorrow as a simple photocopy of today.”

But the “no” of Elizabeth, who entrusts the destiny of her son John to God, “reminds us that nothing and no one is conditioned solely by its history and its roots, but is continually reconditioned by the grace of God”.

Marie: Humility to accept

Finally, reflecting on Mary’s response to God’s call, Father Pasolini reread the Gospel of the Annunciation, drawing out details that “can help us to rediscover some wonder towards the mystery of the Incarnation.” .

He explained that, in the Gospel of Luke, the task of the angel Gabriel is “to enter the heart of Mary without in any way forcing her will, because their dialogue must take place in complete freedom” and “in a climate of trust.”

Mary is commanded to rejoice, recognizing “that something is already present: the Lord is with her.” This, Father Pasolini explained, is “the grace of Advent,” which allows us “to realize that there are more reasons to rejoice than to grieve, not because life is easy, but because the Lord is with us and anything can still happen. .”

Yet Mary responds to the angel’s words with “great wonder,” for at least two reasons. First, “when someone shows us love, it’s always a surprise. Love is never taken for granted” and “we need to feel recognized and accepted for who we are”.

Second, his heart feels that it is time “to be fully redefined by the word of God”, as if “the word of God were written on a sheet where many other statements have already accumulated and organized over time , leaving little room for other statements.”

During Advent, said Fr. Pasolini, by waiting and listening, allows the voice of God to “enter us, telling us who we are and can be before His face”.

Mary’s appeal to a pregnancy that was impossible by human standards exposed her to incomprehension and judgment according to the law of Moses.

Father Pasolini said this means that “every call from God necessarily exposes us to death because it contains the promise of a life entirely given to God and to the world.”

Such fear “in the face of this kind of responsibility” can only be overcome by “contemplating the beauty and grandeur of what awaits us.” But to fully embrace this, Fr Pasolini stressed: “we cannot limit ourselves to saying those ‘yes’ which cost us nothing and deprive us of nothing”.

Each “authentic gospel decision” costs us our entire lives and risks losing our privileges and our certainties. Saying “yes” to God, he noted, risks “dying to the balances we have achieved and in which we try to remain.” However, it is precisely “the path that helps us to rediscover ourselves”.

This is the servant of the Lord

To the angel, Mary responded with her “holy prodigy,” asking: “How will this happen since I do not know man?”

She “does not seek to understand God’s plan in detail” but simply desires “to participate in it freely and consciously.” The angel does not explain how she will conceive the Son of God’s flesh but announces that the Holy Spirit will be her faithful guardian.

With her words: “Behold the servant of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word”, Mary “declares her total enthusiasm for the call she has just received”.

Father Pasolini said it was as if she had said to the angel: “What you asked me to accept, I desire and now choose for myself.” »

According to Father Pasolini, “every announcement that we receive on the path of life” should end like this. “When the light of God succeeds in showing us that, in the fear of what awaits us, lies the faithfulness of an eternal promise, wonder arises within us and we find ourselves able to finally say: “Here I am” .