Advent is a beautiful time, joyful and marked with hope, but it is brief, as our life that, in fact, it is the time real significant for this liturgical time. The Advent puts us in the context of the promises of salvation, announced through the prophets and completed with the sending of the Savior promised to the world and his manifestation in the word and in the action of Jesus. It is the time of hope and of joy.

The celebration of Christmas reminds us of the surprising nearness of God in relation to men; The Son of God came to the world to be near to each person and to reveal humanly the love of God. Why will it be that Christmas brings us a general climate of serenity and peace, of joy and fraternity? Will it not be because we feel closer to God, loved by Him and saved from our limitation and daily worries.

But Advent also points to the future, to the full realization of the salvation of God. From now, already envisions, through the view of faith, what we still hope; we know that God is faithful and will fulfill His promises. Therefore, whenever, we live “from hope in hope”, the Church reminds us always anew that during this time, we should be industrious in the practice of good and vigilant, so we are not distracted nor turned from the certain road. The Glorious Lord can come to our encounter at whatever moment and ask an account of our life; whomever has been faithful to God in life, persevering in the practice of good and consistent with the reign of God, will see the fullness of life. It is all we desire and seek.

In our time it is very important to remember this horizon of hope, of our existence and the responsibility we all have of living well, for life is a gift and work. Pope Benedict XVI remembered in the encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope), that one of the aspects most concerning of the culture of our time  is the  absence of hope-of that great hope, that is goes beyond what we ourselves can give and that only God can give us.

I read, recently, the interview of a person who affirmed that he did not believe in God and that he was fine as: “I don’t want to be saved, I don’t need God.” Really?! Many times, the entire dream of a life is to eat, drink, enjoy oneself, having a house, money, health…They are good things, and who does not want them?! But these are not the only objective of life. Our heart desires more and continues to be restless. We should not fool it, giving it only “things”, that can not satisfy fully! Only God himself is the Surpreme good of men.

Thinking of this, nonetheless, we should worry that this period of the year, more than all, is marked by rampant consumerism: The promise of happiness in each article post for sale, the compulsive running to shopping, the need of eating and drinking enough at Christmas, presents given and received…It is difficult to resist the contagioius climate that runs to consume created goods, it appears that happiness has a magic formula marked to happen that “The people think that one can buy peace in packages”…It is always more evident of losing the Christian sense of Advent and of Christmas!

The Christian Advent is an invitation to hear more the word of God, to pray more intensely, to return oneself to more profound motives of our life; it is time to wake-up to supernatural hope. . .the practice of solidarity, confessing of sins, open the doors and welcome the God who comes and already is among us! We cannot lose sight of our faith and hope!

This is our work as Christians! We cannot allow giving our contribution to a culture that impoverishes even more and loses the high references to human life. we announce the supernatural dimension of our existence and the road to reach it, This light shines in the night to the shepherds of Bethlehem and continues to shine for all in the person of Jesus Christ, “light of the world”!

Published in O SÃO PAULO Nov 29th, 2011 edition

Card. Odilo P. Scherer

translated from Portuguese

not an official translation

Archbishop of São Paulo