Vatican City, Nov 27, 2005 / 22:00 pm
On Saturday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI marked the first day of this year’s Advent season with a challenge, and a call to Christians to accept the communion offered by God in the coming of Christ.
He presided at a Vespers service which commenced the season of preparation for Christmas as well as the new liturgical year.
In his homily, which focused on a passage from St. Paul first letter to the Thessalonians, the Pope noted the Apostle’s hope that "each individual will be sanctified by God and remain 'sound and blameless' in 'spirit and soul and body' until the final coming of the Lord Jesus."
He pointed out that this hope "contains a fundamental truth, one [St. Paul] seeks to inculcate into the faithful of the community he founded, and that we can sum up like this: God calls us to communion with Him, communion which will be fully realized with the return of Christ, and He Himself undertakes to ensure that we are ready when we reach this final and decisive encounter."