During his weekly address and Angelus prayer, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading, in which Mary, who just received the news that she is pregnant with the Son of God, sets out “in haste” to see her older cousin Elizabeth, who she has heard is also pregnant.
“She arose and went,” Francis said. “In the last stretch of the journey of Advent, let us be guided by these two verbs. To arise and to go in haste: these are the two movements that Mary made and that she invites us also to make as Christmas approaches.”
The pope encouraged people to do a small kindness for someone else, such as calling an elderly person, or giving them a little company. “By helping others, we help ourselves to rise up from difficulties,” he said.
Pope Francis also emphasized the Gospel’s words that Mary went “in haste” to her cousin Elizabeth, explaining that this does not mean acting “with agitation, in a hurried manner.”
“Instead it means conducting our days with a joyful step, looking ahead with confidence, without dragging our feet, as slaves to complaints, always looking for someone to blame,” he stated.
Explaining that Mary’s journey to Elizabeth’s house was made with a heart full of God and his joy, he encouraged people to ask themselves how they are moving through life.
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