Advent Retreat (The Art of Waiting) - First Meditation (Awaiting Our Lord)

36 And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.

37 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you that he will gird himself and make them sit down to meat and passing will minister unto them.

38 And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.

39 But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open.

40 Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come.

We spend so much of our lives waiting. It is estimated that the average person spends five years of their lives waiting in lines, and if you drive a car, you will spend six months of your life waiting at red lights.

But that might be called passive waiting; today, we will consider a more active form of waiting, awaiting Our Lord.

The lives of the saints upon earth are a continual expectation. Before the coming of Christ, the saints did nothing but look for the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord Who was to come, to be the author of their faith, to redeem them from sin, to teach them by His doctrine, to strengthen them by His example.

After the coming of Christ, the saints did nothing but continually look for the return of the Lord, as the consummator of their faith, Who would glorify them. As the Prophet Hosea says, “my people shall long for my return.”

Our lives then should be an awaiting, “And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.”

But if we wish to be awake and alert when He comes, we must not only be patient, but we must shun the allurements of this world, which captivate our attention, dull our mind, and sap the strength of our will.

ILLUSTRATION

A young man who was remarkable for his piety, although he was obliged to live amongst those who were very worldly, was once asked what he did to keep himself from sin.

He answered: “When I was a little boy about ten years of age, I was present at an instruction the priest gave us on how we were to do all for Jesus and with Jesus. He said to us: ‘When you awake in the morning, think that the Child Jesus is beside you, and say to Him: “O my Jesus, may I do all things this day to please Thee!” then begin at once to do all your actions as He did them when on earth.

“‘When you say your prayers, think that Jesus is kneeling beside you, and adoring His Heavenly Father, and your prayers will be well said.

“‘When you are at your work, think of Jesus labouring and toiling for His daily bread; and when you are tired and weary, the thought that Jesus was once tired and weary also will enable you to bear all with resignation.

“‘When you are told to do something, imagine that you hear Our Lady and St. Joseph telling the Divine Child Jesus to do the same, and consider how diligently He obeyed them, and you will find it easy to be obedient.

“‘When you have to suffer, recall to mind the sufferings of Jesus for you, and you will obtain patience to suffer for Him.’

“I have never forgotten that instruction,” continued the young man, “and in everything that happens to me, and in everything I do, I always think I see Jesus beside me, and I try to do all in the way I think He would have done it had He been in my place.”

If we wish to remain alert, waiting for the coming of the Lord, there is no better example to follow than that of Christ Himself and how He lived His holy life while on Earth.

SECOND POINT: Living for our heavenly homeland

PRESENTATION

The saints were saints, not because they were superhuman, but because of the way they lived their lives. Some separated themselves from the world entirely, but many remained living in the world as we do. However, even though they were living in the world, they lived in a way that was vastly different from other men.

They recognized that they were pilgrims, always waiting and sighing after their heavenly country. As St. Paul reminds us:

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 3

17 ¶ Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so walk as you have an example in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.§ 20 But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 ¶ who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

The saints show us that it is possible to live detached from the things of this world, so would it not be rather shameful for us to attach ourselves to the things of this world, which in the end do not really even belong to us, they will pass away, and as the saying goes, we cannot take them with us.

The spiritual heritage that has been handed down to us by the saints is one of detachment from the world and attachment to what is spiritual and holy. What a tragedy if we fail to follow the example of those who have gone before us and preserved the holy faith for us if we attach ourselves to this world. Of what use is it for the river to boast of the purity of its source if it is itself defiled with mud?

ILLUSTRATION

A young man named Paces went into the desert of Scete to consecrate his life to God in fasting and works of penance.

When he had persevered in this kind of life for many years, in the enjoyment of sweet consolations such as God often grants to those who thus lovingly offer themselves entirely to Him, he began to be tormented with temptations. Strange thoughts would come before his mind—impure thoughts and even doubts about the truths revealed by God. These continued for a long time and made his life so insupportable that he fell into despair.

Instead of asking God to help him by His grace, he thought that he would put an end to his life. So one day he went out into the wilderness so that he might meet some wild beast which would devour him. He had not long to wait, for he soon came to a den of lions. “Now,” he said to himself, “my misery will soon be at an end.”

But when the lions saw him, instead of rushing forward to devour him, they came up to him and tamely lay down at his feet. He tried to provoke them, but they turned away from him and went back to their den.

This made him reflect on what he had done and the eternal flames of Hell into which he would have been cast forever if he had been killed. He returned to his cell in the hope that these dismal thoughts would leave him.

Still, he neglected to pray, and in a short time, they returned with even greater force. For a second time, he yielded to the temptation to put an end to his existence. Going out into the desert, he found a viper whose bite he knew to be deadly. He took it into his hand and tried to make it bite him, but in vain. So he threw it down and, looking up to Heaven, cried out: “O God, why is it that Thou so often dost strike with death many who desire to live, and now when I desire to die, Thou dost not permit it?”

In answer to these words, he heard a voice that said to him: “O foolish child, why had you the presumption to imagine that you could by your own strength overcome temptations? See, now, how weak you are, and learn to have recourse to God by prayer when you are tempted.”

Paces returned to his cell, this time a humble man; he followed the counsel he had so miraculously received and found peace. Temptations vanished before his prayer, and forever afterwards, he persevered.

If we want to be found awake and alert when the Lord comes to us, then we must remember our weakness, and when we are tempted, we must have recourse to prayer, otherwise, we will never persevere to the end.

THIRD POINT: Perseverance to the end

PRESENTATION

The world offers us delights, pleasures, and diversions to our heart's content, but we would be truly mistaken to seek in the here and now what is reserved for us in the hereafter. All of the pleasures and delights that we seek now are, in fact, thefts of those delights that are utterly indescribable, which we are meant to enjoy hereafter to the full.

Again, St. Paul reminds us:

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 8

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us.

19 For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to vanity: not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope.

21 Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

We must be content then to wait and not be impatient. Now is the time in which we must live by faith, console ourselves by faith, animate ourselves by faith, and not lose faith in prosperous or adverse times. As we know, our lives do not always go on in the same even tenor. Sometimes we will be in desolation, sometimes in joy; sometimes, we will have honour, sometimes contempt; sometimes, we will be strong, sometimes weak.

We must learn to always be equally faithful to God. Journey by the light of faith to our country, where the glory that our Lord promises to us is truly life. How much more perfect and happier is that life than the painful and laborious one that we lead on this earth? We should take no account of this earthly life but despise it and spend it willingly in the service of God. Thus one day, we may attain to the enjoyment of that true life; as we read in the Book of Tobit, “For we are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him.”

ILLUSTRATION

St. Barbara had been enclosed by her father in a high tower to which no one could have access. He was a pagan and did this because he saw that his daughter reverenced the Christian religion, and he feared lest, during the many occasions on which he was necessarily absent, she might find means of embracing Christianity, which he so intensely hated.

But God, Who is almighty, is not to be restrained in His designs by any human power; and the doctrine of Jesus Christ entered her lonely abode because of the strong desire she had to know God. A certain man whom her father had chosen to initiate her into the knowledge of human literature was the means God employed to teach her what she so earnestly desired to know. She was instructed in the Faith and received the Sacrament of Baptism.

Her father, on his return, having been informed that in his absence, she had become a Christian, was so filled with anger that he, of his own accord, went to the Governor and accused her of having renounced the worship of the gods.

At first, the Judge endeavoured to gain her over to renounce her new religion by words of flattery and deceit; but Barbara was deaf to his appeals. He subjected her to the most terrible torture his cruel mind could conceive to compel her to deny Jesus Christ.

Barbara remained unshaken in the midst of them all. Lifting up her eyes to Heaven, she prayed: “O my Divine Lord, Whose eye can reach the very depths of our inmost souls, and Who knowest with what ardent desires I aspire after the possession of Thyself in Heaven, be pleased not to forsake me in my sufferings for Thee, but strengthen me to persevere to the end.”

Her prayer was heard, for on the following night, she was consoled by a beautiful vision. Our Divine Lord Himself appeared to her, surrounded with sweetness and tenderness: “Barbara, persevere courageously, and I will give thee the crown of eternal life.”

This apparition was for the youthful maiden the cause of the greatest consolation and encouragement and gave her renewed fortitude to endure with patience all the tortures to which the cruel Judge condemned her; and when the moment came for her to resign her pure soul into the hand of her beloved Spouse, she blessed her inhuman father, who besought the Judge to permit him to be her executioner. Her head was separated from her body by the sword wielded by the hands of her own parent, and she went to receive the crown of life her Divine Spouse had promised.

CONCLUSION

The season of Advent is a season of waiting. We wait for the celebration of the First Coming of Christ at Christmas, and we wait for the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. However, we live in a perpetual Advent, as we spend our entire lives on earth awaiting the day when we will meet Christ face to face, awaiting the day when He will return in His glory with the angels and saints by His side.

As Our Lord reminds us, “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.” If we wish to remain awake and alert for Our Lord’s arrival, then we must shun the allurements of the world and follow the example of Christ Himself in how he lived His holy life on earth. We must remember that we are pilgrims, keeping before our eyes our Heavenly country and turning to God in prayer whenever we are tempted to turn away. We must remember that the greatest joy and happiness await us in Heaven and never waiver in our perseverance, “For we are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him.”

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