First Sunday in Advent
Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau
Father Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault
Fontgombault, November 27th, 2022
Appropinquat redemptio vestra.
Your redemption is at hand. (Lk 21:28)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My dearly beloved Sons,
The first Sunday in Advent opens a time leading us through an admirable crescendo towards the feast of Christmas, the Advent time, the time when we wait for the Emmanuel. During these days, we shall share in the hope for the coming of the Messiah promised to the Jewish people, whom they are still awaiting.
Yet, the word ‘wait’, which for many is characteristic of this time, may well obfuscate the true meaning of these days.
‘Waiting’ too often implies a negative note. One waits for some- thing, for an event because it’s not yet there, because it’s dragging on: a delayed train, the water or gas bill with a potentially worry- ing amount, the monthly wage... He who waits is never far from showing impatience. Very often, he who waits spends his time, and finally squanders it, since what he considers is himself, more than the thing or the event he’s waiting for.
What then of the wait proper to the time of Advent? Even though the feast of Christmas tends nowadays to be tempered down under the more neuter and global name of ‘festive season’. Many of our contemporaries yearn during these weeks for family gatherings and the exchange of presents.
Don’t let us mistake the true meaning of this liturgical time. In Latin, Adventus doesn’t evoke a wait, but a coming, an arrival, an accession. During these days, the Church awaits her Saviour who is to come. Here is a true mystery. God is He who is, and for us, from the very first moment of creation, He also is He who is to come.
The Book of Apocalypse reveals Him under this name: