Wait

Do you remember

what you thought; felt, when you were a child

and it was four days from Christmas?

Today is four days from Christmas; do you feel anything like you did when you were 7 years old?

Something would probably be wrong if your answer were a complete ‘yes’!

But, is there anything like the child’s

eager anticipation for the celebration of the Lord’s first coming to us?

Truth is,

We aren’t children, we aren’t waiting for gifts under the tree. (Well, maybe a little)

We’re waiting for God;

and that can feel like waiting for Godot: the unseen, the one who hasn’t even spoken since before we can remember.

What if what we are really about is waiting?

After all, Christmas comes, and for many of us, there may be gifts under the tree. But,

Christmas goes — and then,

aren’t we still waiting?

for peace on earth, good will among all, for an end to conflict and refuge for refugees?

for Easter and the celebration of our redemption?

which has happened, but clearly hasn’t been completely fulfilled; not by a longshot!

And so, we wait:

to celebrate the redeemer’s birth

to remember and learn from the events of his life and work,

and so on and again, until the season for waiting rolls back around.

You might be thinking:

Hold on! we can’t just sit down and nothing!

You’re right!

But, what if life is what happens while we wait?

Contemplative monks and nuns are hardly doing nothing:

they work to make a living

pray for the world’s needs

and for those engaged in promoting the Gospel.

For whatever reason, God hasn’t completed the effects of redemption in human life.

Waiting, far from being passive, is, rather the attitude

that allows us to live and work with hope and trust, as we wait attentively for God to complete his work. Experience reminds us that this will happen in God’s own, sweet time, not according to our preferences.

Waiting does not mean doing nothing.

Mary

contemplated all the things that happened to her since the angel’s visit, she also:

walked 90 miles to visit and help her cousin for three months,

Explained to Joseph why her pregnancy was not a cause foe them to separate or cancel their marriage,

Probably explained to her parents, the neighbors and every busybody in town why she was not only blameless, but ‘great among women’.

May Mary’s example and prayers guide us as we ponder and hope. wait and work that God will complete the work of redemption.

Come, Lord Jesus! In your infancy, may we see the man who gave everything to set us free.