First Sunday of Advent - Two-Minute Homily: Cardinal Giorgio Marengo

0:00 Dear friends, I would like to pause with you for a while 0:04 on two key passages of the Gospel of John. 0:09 In this time in which we are preparing we are 0:12 getting our hearts ready to welcome again the Savior in our lives. 0:17 We jump to the time after His resurrection 0:21 when the disciples were frightened 0:23 and behind closed doors they were there waiting for what next. 0:29 And in that precise moment the risen Christ came 0:32 and poured out his Spirit on them and he said, 0:36 as the Father has sent me, so I send you. 0:40 The mission of the Church rests on those words. 0:44 And it is not only words but it is our lives shaped 0:49 after the model of Christ so that missionaries all around the world 0:55 they should be embodiments of what the Lord was for those disciples. 1:01 And this very episode 1:03 in the life of the disciples is connected to 1:06 another crucial moment before the Lord died and rose again. 1:12 And it is when he told them, 1:14 remain in me, as I remain in my Father. 1:19 So mission has something to do with the 1:22 remaining always united with the Lord 1:25 and being sent by Him 1:27 in the power of the Spirit 1:29 to be his eyes, his hands, his heart, 1:33 to raise the life of many brothers and sisters 1:36 to give hope, to give courage. 1:39 This is what we are reflecting 1:42 on this First Sunday of Advent 1:44 and I invite you to meditate on the value 1:48 of mission understood as remaining in Christ 1:52 and being sent by Him.