(-ONLY VIDEO-) On Friday morning, Pope Francis attended the First Homily of Advent in the Vatican's Redemptoris Mater Chapel.
The Homily was given by the preacher of the Pontifical Household, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who reflected on the peace God provides.
The second mediation will take place on December 12th. The third will take place on the 19th.
SUMMARY OF FIRST MEDITATION
(Source: Vatican Radio)
'If one could hear the loudest cry that is in the heart of billions of people, one would hear, in all the languages of the world, only one word: peace! The painful actuality of this subject, united to the need to give back to the word peace the richness and profundity of meaning that it has in the Bible, has driven me to dedicate this yearâ??s Advent meditations to this subject. It will help us to hear with new ears the Christmas announcement: 'on earth peace among men with whom God is pleased,â? and also to begin to live inside the Church the message that she addresses every year to the world on the World Day of Peace.'
'This is the reason I decided to dedicate this first meditation to peace as gift of God in Christ Jesus. In the second meditation we will speak of peace as a task to work for and, in the third, of peace as fruit of the Spirit, namely, of the soulâ??s inner peace.'
'We begin by listening to the fundamental announcement about peace. They are Paulâ??s words in the Letter to the Romans:
'Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).'
'I still remember what happened the day that the Second World War ended for Italy. The cry 'Armistice! Peace!â? spread from the city to the country, from house to house. It was the end of a nightmare no more terror, no more bombardments, no more hunger. It seemed that one finally returned to live again. That announcement of the Apostle should arouse something of this sort in the heart of readers: 'We have peace with God! Peace has been made! A new age has begun for humanity in its relation with God!â? Theirs has been described as 'an age of anxiety.â? People of that time had the impression (anything but unfounded) of a condemnation that weighed on their head. Paul calls it 'the wrath of God [that] is revealed from heaven against all ungodlinessâ? (Romans 1:18), hence the emergence of the esoteric rites and cults of propitiation, which were rife in the pagan society of that time.'
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