During his December 19 Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis reflected on Luke 1:39-45, the Gospel reading of the day. “She arose and went,” the Pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “In the last stretch of the journey of Advent, let us be guided by these two verbs.”

“Let us cast away the negative thoughts, the fears that block every impulse and that prevent us from moving forward,” the Pope said as he reflected on the Blessed Virgin’s visitation to St. Elizabeth. “And then let’s do as Mary did: let’s look around and look for someone to whom we can be of help.”

To “go in haste . . . does not mean to proceed with agitation, in a hurried manner, no, it does not mean this,” he continued. “Instead, it means conducting our days with a joyful step, looking ahead with confidence, without dragging our feet, as slaves to complaints – these complaints ruin so many lives, because one starts complaining and complaining, and life drains away.”