Vatican City, Dec 1, 2008 / 09:48 am
Opening the season of Advent on Saturday by praying Vespers, Pope Benedict XVI said that the cry of the Church, "Come Lord Jesus," is a cry for the Lord to come "not as some beautiful decoration to a world already saved, but as the only way of liberation from mortal danger."
At 5:00 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, Benedict XVI presided at first Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent. The Pope’s homily focused on Advent as the spiritual season of hope "par excellence."
"During that time," the Holy Father said, "the entire Church is called to become hope, for herself and for the world. ... All the people of God resume their journey, attracted by this mystery: that our God is the 'God Who comes' and calls us to come out and meet Him, ... first and foremost in that universal form of hope and expectation which is prayer."