The world looks to Christ as source of joy: papal preacher

CWN - December 21, 2012

In his 3rd and final Advent Sermon for 2012, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the pontifical household, said that the birth and infancy of Jesus are marked by “a rush of calm and profound joy.”

The Church today should seek to rediscover that joy, and convey it to the world, the papal preacher said. “When the world comes knocking at the Church’s doors--even when it does so violently and in anger--it does so because it is looking for joy.”

Father Cantalamessa also observed that the life of Christ “reversed the relationship between pleasure and pain,” since Christ’s suffering on the cross led to the joy of the Resurrection. He said:

According to human reckoning, the day begins in the morning and ends at night. For the Bible, however, it begins with the night and ends with the day.

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