Papal preacher devotes 2nd Advent sermon to call to holiness

December 14, 2015

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the Capuchin Franciscan friar who has served as preacher to the papal household since 1980, devoted his December 11 Advent sermon to the universal call to holiness.

On Fridays during Advent and Lent, the preacher to the papal household customarily preaches a sermon to the Pope and the members of the Roman Curia. The theme of Father Cantalamessa’s 2015 Advent sermons is “Christ, the Light to the Nations: A Christological Reading of Lumen Gentium,” the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.

The four sections of Father Cantalamessa’s December 11 sermon, preached in the Pope’s presence in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, were “You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy,” “The Innovation of Christ,” “Saints or Failures,” and “Resuming the Path toward Holiness.”

He concluded:

Saint Augustine offers us some advice: begin to rekindle in ourselves a desire for holiness: “The entire life of a good Christian,” he writes,” is a holy desire [that is, a desire for holiness]”: “Tota vita christiani boni, sanctum desiderium est.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt 5:6). Biblical righteousness, as we know, is holiness. Let us end with a very simple and direct question to meditate on: “Do I hunger and thirst for holiness, or am I resigning myself to mediocrity?”

 

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Further information:

• Seconda Predica di Avvento, 11.12.2015 (Holy See Press Office)
• Fr. Cantalamessa's 2nd Advent Sermon (Zenit)
• Papal preacher devotes 1st Advent sermon to Christ and the Church (CWN, 12/4)