THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

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Greetings to all! 

Today begins the Advent season, and this word comes from Latin. The term ‘adventus’ was used in Latin to indicate the arrival of an official, even of the emperor himself, to a city or a province and from this visit, the people always hoped for something good, that it would bring help, stimulate trade, promote prosperity and perhaps remove some corrupt officials. To welcome this illustrious character, roads, houses, and aqueducts were built, preparing problems to be presented to him for solution.

With the word ‘advent,’ we refer to the period of preparation for the Lord’s arrival, and then the question arises: if the Lord already came more than 2000 years ago, why should we prepare for His coming? Jesus was born over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, but let us ask ourselves: have He and His Gospel entered our world and society? The answer is ‘no’; do politicians’ and economists’ moral choices and decisions reflect Jesus Christ and His Gospel?

Does the management of goods, creation’s resources, and the relationships between peoples and nations follow the logic of the Gospel as a guiding principle? The answer remains ‘no’ because the driving force behind all choices, whether personal or national, is self-interest. Everyone pursues their own advantage; states also seek their own interests; therefore, if this is the logic that governs the world, let us not delude ourselves because without accepting the new logic of the Gospel, nothing will change. The actors may change, but the recurring pattern will persist; injustices will continue, and all efforts to foster harmony and peace will fail.

Therefore, we must prepare for the Lord to come with the light of His Gospel to illuminate the darkness that still envelops our world. During this Advent season, we will look to the past, rejoice, and ready ourselves for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but then our focus will shift to the present because we need Him to come and begin something beautiful, something new.

In the Gospel passage, we will listen to Jesus explain how to prepare to welcome his light. This passage concludes a long discourse that the evangelist Mark shares with us. Jesus is on the Mount of Olives, accompanied by Peter, Andrew, James, and John; other people are observing the beautiful temple that Herod the Great, to thank the priestly caste’s favour, had built in Jerusalem. It is one of the wonders of antiquity.

Once, Jesus dramatically declares: ‘Of this marvellous temple, not one stone shall remain upon another.’ This is because Israel has decreed its destruction by rejecting him and his Gospel. Jesus advocated peace, love, reconciliation, justice, forgiveness, and universal brotherhood that unites all peoples since all are children of the one God, but Israel preferred to follow the logic of the ancient world. It was caught off guard; it was unprepared and did not welcome God’s Messiah.

Let’s be cautious because it can happen to us. We might also repeat today the same mistake, wanting to change the world and build something new but always following the old logic of seeking our own interest. And if we follow our own logic and do not prepare ourselves to welcome the light of the Gospel, let’s forget about the new world. This is why Jesus needs to give us a special recommendation today. Let us listen to it:

“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”

Jesus often warned his disciples about potential dangers. The evangelist Mark, in chapter 8, recalls that while they were in the boat heading to Bethsaida, Jesus at one point turned to the disciples and said: ‘Keep your eyes open; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’ He was warning them about two risks to be vigilant against. Leaven symbolises that which is impure, corrupts, or rots.

The leaven of the Pharisees was their catechesis, their presentation of the face of God, the lawgiver, and judge; beware, says Jesus, because the God they present to you is very reasonable; he thinks exactly as you do, but beware, the heavenly Father is not like that.

Herod’s influence was rooted in the desire for power and moral laxity; beware, says Jesus, because this catechesis of the Pharisees and these moral proposals of Herod corrupt your life. Always about the dangers, at the beginning of the chapter from which this Sunday’s passage is also taken, Jesus says, ‘Beware lest anyone lead you astray.’ He was referring to the false messiahs, the heralds, those who present themselves as successful people, models of life, and embody the beatitudes of this world opposite to those of Jesus. Be on your guard; do not be seduced by these people whom you admire and even envy because they deceive you.

If one is not fully alert, one becomes drowsy, and when you sleep, you dream; you lose contact with reality, and then when you wake up, you realise that everything you thought was real was an illusion. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus’ call to vigilance resonates almost obsessively: ‘Stay awake,’ ‘keep your eyes open,’ ‘keep watch.’ However, in our passage, Jesus’ heartfelt call does not refer to an imminent danger requiring caution. No, here, the issue is different: the risk of missing an opportunity, a favourable occasion that may not come again.

The Greek term used is καιρός – ‘kairos,’ which signifies the moment to seize an opportunity that should not be missed. ‘Watch, says Jesus, for you do not know when this opportune moment will come.’ To what moment does Jesus refer? He explains it to us with an allegory. Let us listen to it:

“It is like a man travelling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.”

Let’s attempt to identify the characters of the allegory: the first is the man who leaves his house, and the house’s owner is Jesus. However, let us be careful when we say he left; we do not mean that he has gone far away, no, simply that he has changed his way of being present among us. And we must say that now he is closer to each of us than when he walked the streets of Palestine because then he was subjected to the limits of our human condition; when he was in Capernaum, he could not be in Nazareth with his mother. Now, these limits no longer exist for him since he entered the world of the resurrected. He invited his disciples to always keep alive the perception of his presence in their midst. He said to them, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’

Perceiving this presence is not easy because it involves seeing what is invisible to the material eyes, and this perception can only be achieved by those with a pure heart; as Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ We have identified the first character, the man who came out of the house.

What is this house? In the Gospels, when we find the term ‘house’ preceded by the article ‘the,’ it is not just any house; it signifies the Christian community; it is the family of those who have believed in Jesus of Nazareth and have committed themselves to him. They have aligned themselves with the new world project he advocates, and he has delegated his authority to the servants.

Who are these servants? They are the third character. Note that ‘servant’ is the most esteemed honourific title in the Bible, given to great figures who dedicate their entire lives to the Lord’s service and His plan for the world, such as David and Moses. Only one woman has been honoured with this title, which was bestowed by the early Jerusalem community on ‘Mary,’ the only woman to receive the title of the servant of the Lord.

Now, all of us have received this honourable title. We are servants in this house; that is to say, we are committed to dedicating our lives to his new world project, the kingdom of God. Each of us has been entrusted with a task to perform according to our abilities. Therefore, he who genuinely believes in the cause of the Gospel and has committed himself to Christ does not merely engage in some religious practices but offers himself to the community to carry out the task that the Lord has foreseen for him.

The fourth character is the gatekeeper. Who is this gatekeeper? We understand that the gatekeeper is responsible for guarding the door because it is reliant on him to allow someone in or to turn him away. This is a vital task, and he must always stay alert and attentive, more so than others. It is to him that Jesus makes a special recommendation to watch, and if he allows in people who may cause trouble in his house, he is accountable for not being cautious.

Who is the gatekeeper? The conscience of every believer must be vigilant to distinguish well between those who advocate a life based on the Gospel and those who reason according to the world’s logic instead. Let us remember what Paul says in the second letter to the Corinthians: ‘Be careful because Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.’ The conscience must be alert to identify if the evil one seeks to enter our life. And Jesus said that false prophets may present themselves disguised as sheep, but inside, they are ravening wolves. We must know well whom to listen to, whom to heed, and our conscience, if it has not been corrupted, knows how to recognise who has the right to enter into our lives and who, on the other hand, must remain outside.

We hear many voices and proposals about life, but which is true? Maybe one day, your heart is stirred by passion, and a fellow believer kindly advises you, ‘Be careful, do not ruin your family’; but you also hear many other voices; they are the voices speaking in the media, telling you, ‘Forget it; it’s okay, everybody does it.’ But if your conscience is alert and awake, it will say to you, ‘Listen to your brother of faith; let his voice enter your heart; he is an angel of the Lord speaking to you and wanting to bring you out of the darkness into which you are led.’

Alternatively, you may have turned away from the Lord and feel unhappy; you might be disappointed with your life of sin, and perhaps you have even lost your self-esteem. One day, you hear a priest speaking about the Father in heaven who loves each of his children, even those who have strayed in life. Your conscience, the gatekeeper—if it hasn’t been corrupted by false teachings about God—will say to you, ‘It is true what you hear; open your heart, and let in this wonderful news of God’s unconditional love. The joyful message brings you light and joy.’ Consciousness acts as a guardian that can be dulled by the intoxicating drinks of prevailing thought and current morality. That is why Jesus makes the most urgent recommendation to this gatekeeper: Stay awake.

And now, Jesus informs us of when to expect the coming of the master of the house; we must be ready because he arrives unexpectedly. Let us listen:

“Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming.” We know what the traditional interpretation of these words of Jesus has been: ‘Let us beware because God comes at the end of your life, and he comes suddenly, and if he does not find you prepared for you, it is the ‘woes’; it is a terrible punishment, and you may end up in hell for all eternity.’ And this would be Gospel, good news! Interpreting Jesus’ words like that saddened and embittered our hearts; this is not good news.

This is spiritual terrorism that has caused many people to turn away from faith, and it stems from a misinterpretation due to a translation error. Here, it is not said that the householder will return; he cannot return because he has never left. In the New Testament, the word ‘return’ is never used to refer to Jesus; some translations suggest it does, but Jesus cannot return because he never left. In the New Testament, the verb ‘ἐπανέρχομαι’ – epanérjomai – to return, is never used to refer to Jesus. Instead, it always uses ἔρχεται ‘érjetai’ – he comes, he is present in every moment of our lives; he wants us to welcome him because he is always ready to offer us his love. And this encounter is the ideal moment, the καιρός – kairós, the opportunity not to be missed, the auspicious moment. When the Lord comes to enlighten our nights, do not fear; the Lord never comes to harm us, but always and only to offer us his love.

Indeed, there will be a final coming, the last meeting with him when he will welcome everyone, even those who have done wrong in life and have never experienced joy, so ultimately, also for them, there will be the joy of embracing this householder. Therefore, our life must pass like the day of the wife who, while engaged in work, must face misunderstandings, bitterness, and humiliations, yet she always rejoices because she knows that in the evening, the embrace of the bridegroom awaits her.

The misinterpretation of this text has transformed the joy of the embrace with the lover into the terror of the encounter with a wrathful and executing God with those who have never been happy because they have done evil in life and are his children. The words of joy and consolation pronounced by Jesus could not be distorted worse. The encounter for which we must always be prepared happens today. He comes to illuminate our nights, so it is vital that each of us questions ourselves and verifies where our lives are still wrapped in the darkness of sin.

In each of us, there are dark corners in which we have not yet let the light of the Gospel enter; these are those contexts in which our selfishness, pride, and resentments still guide us by uncontrolled passions. This is the time of Advent Grace, when we are invited to identify the dark corners of our lives. Jesus says that he may come at any moment and mentions the four divisions of the night of the Greco-Roman world. He says he can come at sunset, at midnight, at cockcrow, in the morning to advise us to be always awake. The bridegroom must never find us slumbering.

The waiting can also be prolonged, and then the danger of closing our eyes is greater. When we have become aware of our nights, then will come to us spontaneously the invocation we find in the text of the Apocalypse: ‘Come Lord Jesus, come with your word, enlighten my life, enlighten our world.’

And before concluding his discourse, Jesus recommends once again, “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” This invitation is addressed directly to all of us.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.