In the Angelus of this second Sunday of Advent, Pope Leo XIV once again insisted on the need to recover Christian hope in a world marked by uncertainty. With a message centered on conversion, spiritual vigilance, and the ever-new surprise of the Kingdom of God, the Pontiff recalled that Advent is not a passive time, but a call to actively participate in God’s work. His words, profound and of great theological sobriety, invite us to rediscover the heart of the Gospel: Christ is coming, and the world needs to make space for him.
Here below are his words:
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
The Gospel of this second Sunday of Advent announces the arrival of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mt 3,1-12). Before Jesus, his precursor, John the Baptist, appears on the scene. He preached in the desert of Judea saying: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Mt 3,1).
In the prayer of the “Our Father,” we ask each day: “Thy kingdom come.” Jesus himself taught it to us. And with this invocation, we orient ourselves toward the newness that God has in store for us, we recognize that the course of history is no longer written by the powerful of this world. We place our thoughts and energies at the service of a God who comes to reign not to dominate us, but to liberate us. It is a “gospel,” an authentic good news, that motivates and involves us.
Certainly, the Baptist’s tone is severe, but the people listen to him because in his words resounds God’s call not to play with life, to make the most of the present moment to prepare for the encounter with Him who does not judge by appearances, but by works and the intentions of the heart.
John himself will be surprised by the way the Kingdom of God will manifest itself in Jesus Christ, in meekness and mercy. The prophet Isaiah compares it to a shoot: an image not of power or destruction, but of birth and newness. Upon that shoot, which emerges from an apparently dead trunk, the Holy Spirit begins to blow with his gifts (cf. Is 11,1-10). We all have the memory of a similar surprise that has happened to us in life.
It is the experience that the Church lived in the Second Vatican Council, which concluded precisely sixty years ago; an experience that is renewed when we walk together toward the Kingdom of God, all disposed to welcome and serve it. Then not only do realities that seemed weak or marginal flourish, but what would humanly be considered impossible is realized, as in the images of the prophet: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall graze together, and a little child shall lead them” (Is 11,6).
Brothers and sisters, how much the world needs this hope! Nothing is impossible for God. Let us prepare for his Kingdom, let us welcome it. The smallest one, Jesus of Nazareth, will guide us. He, who placed himself in our hands, from the night of his birth to the dark hour of his death on the cross, shines in our history like the rising sun. A new day has begun: let us wake up and walk in his light!
Here is the spirituality of Advent, so luminous and concrete. The lights along the streets remind us that each one of us can be a little light, if we welcome Jesus, the shoot of a new world. Let us learn to do so like Mary, our Mother, a woman who waits with trust and hope.