Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/113014.cfm
Is 63: 16B-17;19B; 64: 2-7
1 Cor 1: 3-9
Mk 13: 33-37
We say that patience is a virtue and indeed it is. Yet, how often do we pray for an increase in
patience? It’s the one prayer that God
always answers because he takes his time about it and in the process teaches us
to be patient.
Yet, it isn’t exactly a popular American virtue. We are not a patient people are we? Have you driven on the highway recently or
found another car behind you about three inches from your rear bumper at 70
miles an hour urging you to get out of the way?
Have you recently waited in line to buy something and found yourself
feeling anxious because the person in front of you took another 20 seconds
longer than you expected?
Or how about the American custom called “Black Friday?”
Stores opened earlier this year than ever it seemed. Not only before sunrise the day after
Thanksgiving but on the evening of Thanksgiving itself! Why? -
Because we have no patience to wait for the best bargain. I think we have no
patience because we don’t need to have it – we expect to have everything instantly
and if we have to wait another 30 seconds it seems like an eternity. In some
ways we have become consumed by our own consumer mentality.
So what are we to do about Advent which is all about
patiently waiting for the coming of the Lord.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters kept the hope of the coming Messiah
alive for hundreds of years and passed that hope down generation to
generation. We hear of their Biblical
patience in our first reading from Isaiah this Sunday: “Oh that you might rend
(tear open) the heavens and come down . . . would that you might meet us doing
right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! . . . for you have hidden your
face from us . . . Yet O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay . . . the
work of your hands.”
Writing about 600 years before the coming of Jesus that
hope was already expressed among the people; that God would one day “rend” the
heavens and come down to save them. That
would mean, to bring it home somewhat, that in the year 1414 we would have an
expressed hope that we still speak of in the year 2014. Now that’s patience par excel lance!
Advent, in my estimation, is the Church’s gift to us in
this hectic and impatient modern world which encourages instant gratification
to step back and take our time. It offers
us the opportunity to let go of expectations about instant everything and to
re-order our priorities both about our Christian life and how we live it. God does not look at time the way we humans
do so if we assume that God thinks as we do we would be short sighted
indeed.
Yet, the words of the Gospel from Mark this Sunday
offer us a wakeup call: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time
will come . . . whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in
the morning.” What time are we waiting
for? I can’t wait – I don’t have the time to wait. Let’s move it along.
We must put aside such an attitude this Advent if we
are going to appreciate the richness of this somewhat short season. We have about three and a half weeks of grace
offered to us this year to reflect on the profound implications of God’s entry
into human history, which is the meaning of the Christmas season. We are
offered the grace to live in trust before a God who invites us to slow down and
ponder for a moment what this means for me personally and for humanity in
general.
That’s a tall task however. It seems the world either hasn’t heard the
good news yet or if they did, they forgot and busied themselves with creating
war, poverty, self-satisfaction, and the attitude that religion is somehow an enemy
to the more progressive values of secular society. Sadly, that which we enjoy so much in our
daily lives, technology, has also contributed to this challenging perception that
what is new today is old tomorrow.
So, Advent is upon us but you will likely not see any
signs of it outside our Churches. What can we do? What should we do about it?
Let’s try living in the present moment rather than
anticipating the future. “Be watchful”
the Gospel reminds us as we begin this season.
Be watchful for God’s presence in our daily life. If we live in anticipation of what our next
thing is, we miss the God who speaks to us NOW.
Practice patience.
That’s easier said than done many times but live a day simply in
deliberate attention. Intentionally
carve out some time to pray with the scriptures or the Sunday readings, slowly
and prayerfully. How is God present to
you in prayer? We are rarely deliberately mindful of our precious time.
If you haven’t done so already, delay sending Christmas
cards until at least the middle of December.
Pray for the people on your list of family and friends who will receive
those cards.
Dress your home somewhere in the violet color of
Advent. Christmas tree up already? Don’t
turn on the lights for two weeks and just wait.
Instead, light a candle each week in anticipation of the Lord’s coming.
Spend some time with a frail loved one who moves slowly
and who’s daily life is far less “exciting” than yours.
As we prepare to remember Christ’s coming 2,000 years
ago, take some time to find him today.
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.
Collect of Mass - Roman Missal)
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