Pope at Angelus: Advent calls us to prepare for the just Judge

By Devin Watkins

Pope Leo XIV prayed the noon-day Angelus with the faithful gathered on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, as the Church celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent.

In his address, the Pope recalled John the Baptist’s preaching in the desert of Judea: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Each day, we pray the Our Father, in which we ask “Thy kingdom come.”

With those words, he said, we invite God’s kingdom to enter our world and recognize that the course of history is not controlled by the powerful of this world.

“Let us put our thoughts and energy at the service of God who came not to reign over us, but rather to free us,” said the Pope. “This is the ‘gospel,’ the truly good news that motivates and draws us in.”

John the Baptist’s preaching was severe, admitted Pope Leo. Yet, he said, his words are a call to take life seriously, urging us to prepare ourselves today “for the encounter with Him who judges not by appearance, but by our deeds and the intentions of our hearts.”

When Jesus came the first time, He came in meekness and mercy, surprising John the Baptist.

Jesus, said the Pope, resembles the sprout on a seemingly dead trunk spoken about by the prophet Isaiah. His coming, was not for power or destruction, but rather brought about rebirth and renewal.

“This is what the Church experienced in the Second Vatican Council, which concluded exactly sixty years ago,” noted Pope Leo XIV. “That experience is renewed when we journey toward the Kingdom of God, together with all those who eagerly welcome and serve it.”

The coming of God’s Kingdom will bring even those things that seemed weak or marginal to fulfillment.

“The world greatly needs this hope!” he said. “Nothing is impossible for God. Let us prepare ourselves for His Kingdom; let us welcome it.”

In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV invited Christians to embrace the spirituality of Advent, which he said is “very luminous and concrete.”

“The streetlights remind us that each of us can be a little light, if we welcome Jesus, the shoot of a new world.”