December 3, 2024 // National

This Advent, Lighten Burdens by Making Room for the Lord, Pope Says

Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Despite the problems and worries in the world, Jesus invites Christians to look toward heaven, trust in his saving love, and make room for Him in order to find hope again, Pope Francis said.

“Sadness is awful,” he told visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus on Sunday, December 1, the First Sunday of Advent.

“Indeed, it can happen that the anxiety, fears, and worries about our personal lives or about what is happening in the world today weigh down on us like boulders and throw us into discouragement … and induce us to close in on ourselves,” he said.

“Jesus’ invitation is this: Raise your head high and keep your hearts light and awake,” he said, reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Luke, which speaks about “cosmic upheavals and anxiety and fear in humanity.”

“In this context, Jesus addresses a word of hope to His disciples,” he said, by encouraging them to not let their hearts “become drowsy” and to await the coming of the Son of Man with vigilance.

The disciples’ hearts were “weighed down with fear,” the pope said. “Jesus, however, wants to free them from present anxieties and false convictions, showing them how to stay awake in their hearts, how to read events from the plan of God, who works salvation even within the most dramatic events of history.”

Jesus’ invitation is important for the faithful today, he said. “Let’s ask ourselves: What can I do to have a light heart, a wakeful heart, a free heart? A heart that does not let itself be crushed by sadness?”

Jesus, he said, “invites us to lift up our heads, to trust in His love that wants to save us and that draws close to us in every situation of our existence; He asks us to make room for Him in order to find hope again.”

“May this Advent season be a precious opportunity to lift our gaze to Him, who lightens our hearts and sustains us on our way,” Pope Francis said.

Also following the Angelus, Pope Francis praised a new ceasefire reached in Lebanon, prayed for Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza, and appealed to world leaders to help put an end to the war in Ukraine.

The pope highlighted the devastating conflicts underway in the Middle East and Ukraine, and he encouraged all people to pray and work for peace.

“When one renounces the use of weapons and engages in dialogue, a good path is taken,” he said.

“As we prepare for Christmas, as we await the birth of the King of Peace, let these peoples be given concrete hope,” he said.

“The quest for peace is the responsibility not of a few but of all. If habituation and indifference to the horrors of war prevail, the whole, entire human family is defeated,” he said.

A 60-day ceasefire deal between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group, Hezbollah, went into effect on Wednesday, November 27. It also requires Israeli troops to pull out of Lebanon and Hezbollah to pull away from the southern border.

The cross-border bombing and fighting, which began more than a year ago, has forced more than 1.2 million Lebanese and 50,000 Israelis from their homes and has killed tens of thousands of people in Lebanon and Israel, according to the Associated Press.

Pope Francis said he welcomed the ceasefire agreement, “and I hope that it may be respected by all parties” so that all those displaced could return home “soon and safely.”

He also made “an urgent call to all Lebanese politicians, so that the president of the republic may be elected immediately, and the institutions return to their normal functioning, so as to proceed to the necessary reforms and assure the country of its role as an example of peaceful coexistence between different religions.”

Former President Michel Aoun’s term ended in October of 2022. The Lebanese parliament has failed to elect his successor.

Pope Francis said he hoped the “glimmer of peace” represented by the agreement between Israel and Hezbollah “may lead to a ceasefire on all fronts, especially in Gaza. I very much have at heart the liberation of the Israelis who are still held hostage and access to humanitarian aid for the stricken Palestinian population.”

The pope also called for prayers for Syria, “where unfortunately war has flared up again, claiming many victims.”

And the pope expressed his ongoing concern and sorrow for the conflict in Ukraine.

“For almost three years we have witnessed a terrible sequence of deaths, injuries, violence, and destruction,” he said. “Children, women, the elderly, and the weak are the first victims,” and winter will only exacerbate the difficulties facing millions of displaced persons.

“I renew once again my appeal to the international community and to every man and woman of goodwill, to make every effort to stop this war, and to make dialogue, fraternity and reconciliation prevail. Let there be a renewed commitment at every level,” he said.