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"Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down . . "
Mark 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. In fact, in the waiting he has already answered us. The only way to learn patience is to be
patient. So, stop being anxious, wringing your hands, and looking at the clock
with frustration. All things will come
in time.
In so many ways, we are not a patient people are we? Although our Nation these days has some serious flaws, we still have so much so be thankful for. 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? We are not a patient people which all the more emphasizes for us the value of this season, brief as it is this year, only three weeks, but with long time value.
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. Bishop Robert Barron, the popular evangelist of our day, comments about the similarity between that hope and that of being kidnapped, a rather common experience in the time of Jesus. One would never travel outside their town alone, along the roads, especially at night; only in caravans or in groups.
Still, to be kidnapped, even held for ransom, is to find oneself in a condition of desperation. You long for freedom, you’re in an unfamiliar place and a foreign land, you don’t know what your future will be, you see the danger before you and you don’t know what the ultimate intention of your captors will be. You want to go home. You long for freedom, for safety, and for a savior. That is something like what Isaiah pleads for and the hope kept alive for centuries, knowing that at some time and place a savior will come to set you free.
At the closing of our Isaiah passage, we hear surrender to the confidence that all will be right with God: “O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.” An assurance built upon faith that God will be and ever is true to his promises.
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, right to our own day.
For us, we know that the Lord has already come. In physical time and in a geographical place a child was born who we believe is the answer to that desperate plea. The prayer has been answered and the Savior has come to set us free; to take us home. So we live on the other side of that event. Yet, we are still in a mode of patience for him to come again.
So, 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.” Let’s remember that the great events of our salvation happened at evening, midnight, cockcrow and the morning hours.
The Last Supper in evening darkness, the secret nighttime capture of Jesus, his trial before Pilate and his crucifixion in early morning. Through these fatal events Jesus became a new light for the world. It was his resurrection that was discovered by the empty tomb at dawn by the women who went to the tomb. So, be watchful for what has happened, what it now means for us, and how we can live in daylight and not under cover of darkness.
Where is the Lord NOW for us? How can we be busy about the things we need to do in the works of charity and the living of our sacramental faith, particularly the Holy Eucharist and prayer? We don’t need to worry about when he is coming if he finds us doing what he has called us to do.
So, due to Christmas being on a Monday this year, we have about three weeks of Advent 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. Frankly, that isn’t much time to prepare and to ponder but we do have the rest of our life as well.
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. So, this can be a season of mindfulness – to pay attention to and to live in the present moment as fully as we can.
Practice patience. Intentionally carve out some time to pray with the scriptures or the Sunday readings in particular, read slowly and prayerfully in as much silence as you can find. 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. Is the 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 whose daily life is far less “exciting” than yours.
As we remember Christ’s coming more than 2,000 years ago, take some time to find him today.
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