Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered for the Sunday Angelus about John the Baptist's role in inviting everyone to conversion, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" According to the Pope, John the Baptist was an austere and radical believer who called people to conversion with a "cry of love to return to God."
The Holy Father said that we might think of John the Baptist as a harsh person, even fearful, given his severity, and we might wonder why he is our primary companion during the Advent Season. Instead of harshness, it was the Baptist's strong reaction when he encountered deception in people.
The Pope explained that when the Pharisees and Sadducees, known for their hypocrisy, approached him, he would challenge them. They thought they "had it all together" and didn't need repentance, he continued, and with this arrogance and deception, they did not welcome this moment of grace and the chance to start over.
"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance!" says John. This is a love cry, similar to the cry of a father who sees his son destroying himself and tells him, "Don't throw your life away!"
According to the Pope, the greatest danger is hypocrisy, which can destroy even the most sacred realities. And it is for this reason that John the Baptist, and later Jesus, would be harsh with hypocrites, those who lack humility or any sense of their own sinfulness and weaknesses, instead focusing on the problems of others.
“Therefore, bravura is not important to welcome God, humility is. It requires getting off the pedestal and being immersed in the water of repentance.”
The Pope said then we also need to think about our own behaviours and attitudes and consider if we also are at times a bit like the Pharisees recounted in the Gospel. Do we sometimes think we are better than others, that we have everything under control, or do not have the daily needs of God and our brothers and sisters?
"Advent is a time of grace to remove our masks and join those who are humble, to be liberated from the presumption of self-sufficiency, to go to confess our sins and welcome God's pardon, and to seek forgiveness from those we have offended."
When we ask God for forgiveness, we begin a new life, the Pope emphasized, and "there is only one way, the way of humility," that can lead us to being forgiven and purified from our weaknesses, sense of superiority, or hypocrisy, to realizing that we are all sinners. "Jesus as the Saviour...comes for us just as we are, with our poverty, misery and failings, above all with our need to be raised up, forgiven and saved."
“And let us remember one thing: with Jesus, there is always the possibility of beginning again. Always!”
Jesus awaits us, and never gets tired of us, the Pope emphasized. And Advent offers us a special time of grace to return to the Lord, he added, praying that Mary may "help us to meet Him and our brothers and sisters on the way of humility."
Following the Angelus prayer, the Pope recalled that this Thursday we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and that we might entrust to her intercession our prayers for peace, especially for the suffering people of Ukraine.
Among the groups of pilgrims present in St. Peter's Square, he also mentioned in particular those from Poland, expressing his gratitude for those supporting today's Day of Prayer and the collection of funds for to assist the Church in Eastern Europe.