These words of Christ, which resound on this first Sunday of Advent (the beginning of December, the start of a new liturgical year, “year” C) in today’s Gospel, are a cry of hope that we all need to make our own spiritually. The resonance of penitence and expectation that the Church proposes to us each year before Christmas is an opportunity for us to know how to dispose ourselves interiorly to re-actualize and live the unique story of God’s Love for each one of us.

By freely deciding to take on our humanity through the birth of his Son, God seals a decisive covenant with each and every one of us. In the midst of our calamities and existential frailties, God reassures us with his constant solicitude; through the coming of Christ, God will assert himself as our Justice (1st reading).

The spiritual exercise of Advent prepares us, through our efforts at prayer and conversion over four Sundays, to purify our hearts and minds in order to receive Christ, who comes to save us. ” To you, Lord, I lift up my soul to you, my God” says the responsorial psalm for this Sunday.

What could we be without the Lord’s grace, which makes up for our human weaknesses and limitations? May God himself, at the start of this spiritual and penitential pilgrimage (the meaning of the color violet), “strengthen our hearts at the coming of our Lord Jesus” (2nd reading). At the school of the Holy Curé d’Ars, we recommend Cédric Chanot’s beautiful book Mon Avent avec le Saint Curé d’Ars. May it serve as a stimulus in our longing to welcome Jesus at Christmas. Happy start to Advent!