Was it necessary for the Son of God to have suffered for us? Indeed, and we may speak of a double necessity: as a remedy for sin and as an example to live.

It was above all a remedy, because in the passion of Christ we find a remedy against all the evils we may run into because of sin.

But no less is the usefulness of his example to us. In fact, we have sufficient example with which to orient our entire lives.

Whoever wishes to live in perfection need do nothing more than disdain what Christ disdained on the cross, and to desire what he desired.  None of the virtues, in fact, is absent in the cross.

If you look for an example of charity, recall: “No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends.”(John 15: 13)

Christ accomplished this on the cross. Therefore, if he has given his life for us, it must not be burdensome to sustain whatever evil for him.

If you search for an example of patience, you will find an excellent one on the cross. You see great examples of patience in two circumstances: when one patiently bears great adversity and when one sustains adversity that one could have avoided.

Now, Christ has given us the cross as an example of both. In fact, “when he was suffering, he did not threaten.” (1 Pt. 2: 23) and “as a lamb he was lead to death and opened not his mouth.” (Acts 8:32) Great, then, is the patience of Christ on the cross. “We run with perseverance on the course, holding our eyes on Jesus, author and perfecter of faith. He, in exchange for the joy that was put before him, took up the cross, disdaining the ignominy.” (Heb 12:2)

If you look for an example of humility, look at the crucifixion: God, in fact, wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.

If you look for an example of obedience, follow him who made himself obedient to the Father unto death: “Just as through the disobedience of one man, that is Adam, all have become sinners,  so too through the obedience of one man all will become just.” (Rom 5: 19)

If you search for an example of disdaining earthly things, follow him who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col 2: 3) He is naked on the cross, ridiculed, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, made to drink vinegar and gall.

Do not therefore bind your hearts to fine clothing and riches, because “they divided my clothing among them” (John 19: 24), nor to honors, because I have experienced outrages and beatings (cf. Isaiah 53:4), nor to privileges because they wove a crown of thorns and put it on my head (cf. Mk 15: 17), nor to pleasures because “When I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Psalm 68: 22)

We glory in the Cross of Christ. May we never forsake it.

Awaken, O man, for God is made man for you, O you who sleep! Awaken from the dead and Christ will illuminate you! (Eph. 5:14). For you, I repeat, God is made man.

You would have been dead forever if he would not have been born in our time. He would not have freed our nature from sin if he had not assumed a nature similar to that of sin. You would have possessed a perpetual misery if he would not have handed to you such mercy. You would not have been given again new life if he had not encountered your same death. You would have become less if he would not have come to your assistance. You would have perished if he would not have come.

Prepare to celebrate with joy the coming of our salvation and redemption; to celebrate a festival in which the great and eternal day came from his great and eternal day into this our passing and so brief of a day. He has become for us justice, sanctification and redemption because, as is written, he who boasts may boast in the Lord. (cf. 1 Cor 1: 30-31).

The truth as sprouted from the earth (cf. Ps 84:12): Christ, born from the Virgin; Christ who said “I am the Truth” (cf. Jn 14: 6). Justice has shown itself from the heavens (cf. Ps 84: 12). The man who believes in Christ born for us does not receive salvation from himself but from God. Truth has sprouted from the earth because “The Word was made flesh” (Jn 1: 14). Justice has appeared from the heavens because, “Every good present and every perfect gift comes from above” (James 1: 17). Truth has sprung from the earth –  flesh from Mary. Justice has appeared from heaven because man receives nothing if not given to him from heaven (cf. Jn 3: 27)…….

Let us rejoice therefore in this grace that our glory may give witness to a good conscience. We do not glory in ourselves but in the Lord. It is said, “You are my glory and you raise my head” (Ps 3: 4). What greater grace of God has shown upon us? Having an only begotten Son, God made him the son of man and thus, vice versa, has rendered the son of man the son of God. Search for the merit, the cause, the justice of this and see if you find anything else but grace.

As you probably know, the Gospel was about the Visitation. The part I focused on was how John the Baptist “leaped for joy” when Mary greeted Elizabeth.

Leaped for joy, even before his birth.

John must have been one active man…. even before he was born, he was jumping around pointing out the presence of the Lord in our midst. Later in life, of course, he really made a scene with his camel’s hair shirt, his shouting and carrying on, confronting the king about his unlawful wife (can you imagine what would happen today if one of our bishops publicly told one of our politicians that the woman he was living with was not his wife, but his brother’s), eating honey and locusts, etc. Yes, John wasn’t afraid of making a scene if it had to do with preparing someone for the coming of the Lord or pointing out the Lord’s presence.

I asked the people last night this question, “What makes you leap for joy when it comes to your religion?”

We are to be a people of joy, are we not? We are to pick up where John left off by recognizing the Lord in our midst, pointing him out to others and leading them to him.

What makes your heart leap?

Here is the challenge I put forth last night, and I extend to you: Set aside a certain amount of time each day during which you make a conscious decision to open your heart to God’s presence. Then wait. Wait for as long as it will take… God alone knows how long. Someday, though, if you keep doing this, your heart will leap; there will be a flutter inside you; there will be a fleeting flush of joy that you will experience.

Your heart will leap for joy in the presence of the Lord.

Take up the challenge and see for yourselves.

God, you have created me to do you some definite service. You have committed some work to me which you have not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told in the next. Somehow I am necessary for your purposes. I have a part in the great work. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good. I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place. Fulfill your high purposes in me, I am here to serve you, to be yours. Amen

And Isaiah, the prophet of Advent, has us reflect today with a heartfelt prayer, directed to God in the name of the people. He recognizes the shortcomings of his people, and at a certain point he says, “No one calls upon your name, no one awakens to bind himself to you; because you have hidden your face from us, we are in tossed about by our iniquity” (Isaiah 64:6). How can we not be struck by this description? It seems to reflect certain view of the post-modern world: a world where life becomes anonymous and horizontal, where God seems absent and man the sole master, as if he were the maker and ruler of all — construction, work, economy, modes of transport, the sciences, technology — all seems to depend on man. At times, in this world that appears almost perfect disturbing things happen, either in nature or in society, by which we think that God seems to have withdrawn, we might even say, so to speak, abandoned us.

In reality, the true “master” of the world is not man, but God. The Gospel says, “Watch therefore; you do not know when the master of the house will return, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow or in the morning…… “Lord, you are our Father; we are clay and you the one who forms us; we all are the work of your hands.” (Isaiah 64:7h).

Let us all this Advent try to live by these words of the prophet Isaiah, and the teaching of the Holy Father. Let us live each day, knowing that God is the master of all, and we are mere clay in his hands, clay he molds and shapes to bring us to maturity and to do the work he has set before us.

I would like to offer you a brief excerpt from his comments to the youth. I am translating the Italian report from L’Avvenire (www.avvenire.it).

You are the light of the world because Jesus is your light…. Have the courage to use your talents and your gifts for the Reign of God and to give yourselves – like wax to the candle – so that through you the Lord may illuminate the darkness… dare to be saints on fire in whom eyes and hearts shine with the love of Christ so that light may be carried into this world. I am confident that you and may others in Germany may be a torch of hope that does not remain hidden.

Like wax to a candle… To spend ourselves in that way.

A wonderful image for our meditation today.