Pope Francis: In Advent let us look up to Jesus, who lightens the heart

Pope Francis encouraged that this Advent we look up to Jesus, “who lightens the heart and sustains us on the path.”

He said this in his speech prior to praying the Angelus this December 1, the first Sunday of Advent, to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

The Pope recalled that today’s Gospel (Lc 21,25-28.34-36), “it tells us about cosmic disorders and anguish and fear in humanity. In this context, Jesus addresses his disciples a word of hope: ‘Be of good courage and lift up your heads, because liberation is about to come to you.’”

“The Master’s concern is that their hearts do not become heavy and that they wait vigilantly for the coming of the Son of Man,” he stressed, highlighting that “the invitation of Jesus is this: lift your head up high and have your heart light and awake.” .

The Holy Father noted that “many contemporaries of Jesus, faced with the catastrophic events that they see happening around them – persecutions, conflicts, natural calamities – are overcome by anguish and believe that the end of the world is about to come. Their hearts are heavy with fear.”

“Stand up and raise your heads”

However, he said, “Jesus wants to free them from present anxieties and false convictions, indicating how to be prepared in the heart, how to read events from God’s project, which works salvation also within the most dramatic circumstances of the story.”

“For this reason he suggests that you look towards Heaven to understand the things of earth: ‘stand up and lift your heads.’ It’s beautiful… ‘stand up and raise your heads.’”

“The advice of Jesus is also important for us: ‘Let your hearts not be heavy,’” the Pope noted. “All of us, in so many moments of life, ask ourselves: how to have a ‘light’ heart, an awake, free heart? A heart that does not allow itself to be crushed by sadness? Sadness is ugly… It is ugly.”

“Do I let myself be touched by discouragement?”

After pointing out that the setbacks of life can weigh us down “like rocks,” push us “to discouragement” and induce us “to close ourselves in on ourselves,” the Holy Father stressed that “Jesus invites us instead to lift our heads, to trust in his love that wants to save us and that becomes close in every situation of our existence, to make room for us to find hope again.”

“Let’s ask ourselves: is my heart burdened by fear, by worries, by anxiety for the future? I know how to observe everyday events and the circumstances of history with the eyes of God, in prayer, with a broader horizon? Or rather let myself be touched by discouragement?

“May this time of Advent be a precious occasion to lift our gaze toward Him, who lightens our hearts and sustains us on our path,” he encouraged, encouraging at the end of his message to invoke “the Virgin Mary, who also in moments of proof has been ready to accept God’s project.”