Archbishop Comensoli: Advent, a time of preparation and expectation
03 December 2024
Melbourne Catholic
As we enter into the season of Advent once again, embarking on a new Church year, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli reflects on Advent as a time of preparation and expectation.
Advent, he explains, is ‘a time of preparation, of anticipation, of preparing … towards the time of the incarnation, of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, when God became one of us, became human.’
Archbishop Comensoli encourages us to view Advent not so much as a penitential season but as a time of joyful expectation. ‘In expectation, we prepare, and in preparing, we look forward,’ he says. This season invites us to be attentive and awake, both to the commemoration of Christ’s birth and to the eternal gift of life that his incarnation has brought us.
Advent, the Archbishop explains, ‘pushes us forward, asks us to be awake and attentive,’ and in doing so, to come, ‘with real joy ... to the time of our Lord’s incarnation’.
Archbishop Comensoli closes his video message with a blessing:
May the Lord bless you and keep you at this time. May he be with you in your families. And as you make this journey through Advent, bringing you to the feet of a little baby, may the time be one of great preparation and expectation.
Transcript:
Hello friends.
We've just begun the season of Advent, this time of preparation, of anticipation, of preparing—all of those words are important—towards the time of the incarnation, of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, when God became one of us, became human.
Sometimes, this time of Advent is portrayed in a penitential way, but I don't think that's precisely right. It is rather a time of expectation, and in expectation, we prepare, and in preparing, we look forward.
And so I want to just encourage you, as we enter into this time of Advent, to look forward, not only to our commemoration of the birth of our Saviour, but also to look forward to the gift that his incarnation has already given to us, the gift of our eternal life in God.
Advent pushes us forward, asks us to be awake and attentive, and in doing so, being able to, with expectation, and therefore with real joy, to come to the time of our Lord's incarnation.
May the Lord bless you and keep you at this time. May he be with you in your families. And as you make this journey through Advent, bringing you to the feet of a little baby, may the time be one of great preparation and expectation.
