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Episode 13 - Advent
this is the Season of Advent, so today's word is Advent.
Obviously Advent.
Advent.
Yes. Where does the word Advent come from?
Well, maybe from avvenire? I don't know.
From advenire, yes, become, advenio, composed of..
Advenio, what does that mean? To come here?
To be present, to be there, to arrive.
But is it present in the Bible, Advent?
No, because the Advent is an invention of Latin. Because the Orthodox, the Oriental,
they don't really have the Advent. Yes, no, they have it, but it is a think which is rather .. But
there is anyway the idea of coming, and we see it often times in the liturgy. Well, particularly
in the liturgy of the first Sunday of the Advent season, it recurs in the collect itself.
Yes.
And it is: "Call forth in us.."
the collect is not that one...
the first oration of the mass.. No, no, no, be careful, let's not make confusion. The collect
is that thing which... The first oration of the mass. Then, there is another collection which
the vicar likes better...
Which is the one where he collects the money.
But technically, the collect...
Why is it called collect?
There are two explanations. The first is because it is the oration which collected the prayers of the whole assembly,
or because it was the oration which was given as soon as the assembly had gathered.
So we have already explained another word, besides the one we are dealing with...
Anyway in the collect, in the collect oration, the Roman liturgy says: "Call forth in us the
will to welcome with good deeds your Christ that is coming". So there already,
we have two...
So there is a double movement.
There is a double movement, no, there is the Christ who is coming, and we who going, we come,
and this is exactly what the liturgy proposes, because the first lecture of the
Prophet Isaiah, says: "And many peoples will come and they will say "
So paradoxically the first...
The first to move is us.
The first to move is us, no, well, we come, but in reality we move for what reason? Because
there is the mountain of the temple of the Lord, so from a certain point of view, the
Lord has come, and so we, he has come to his mountain, he has come to his temple, and so the whole humanity
goes towards the Lord. And then the Christ comes, and in fact, the Christ who comes in the mystery,
the Christ who comes in the glory, the Gospel says: "So, he has come in history, he comes in the mystery,
in every circumstance, and he
will come in the glory".
So the comings are three.
According to the spiritual tradition the Advents are three. What has happened in history,
because the Christ comes in a precise time in history 2000 years ago in Bethlehem of Judas, etc.
He comes in mystery, because this coming is not limited to his times and his space,
but the resurrection that blows up time and space, does not nullify it, but blows it up,
it expands it, because the Christ is present and comes in every moment, he has to be
recognized in every moment, and he will
come in glory to end history. And the coming of Christ, this
threefold coming of the Christ corresponds to a threefold position of man.
Right, explain me what...
First of all, in front of the Christ who has come into history, we recognize this coming.
So it is faith. We believe in Jesus Christ the son of God who has incarnated for us,
who has died for us, who has risen for us, it is faith. We wait for the one
who will come in glory, whom we have known by faith, we wait for the one who will come
in glory, so the hope for accomplishment. But now, the Christ who comes in mystery, in
every circumstance, we have to recognize the one who has come and the one who will come as the one who
comes now. And which is the virtue, or the attitude that allows us to recognize
who comes now? Charity, obviously. Namely, the disposition of men to recognize the
presence, to recognize the presence of the Christ. The one we know who has come,
one we hope will come, we recognize him now with love, with charity.