By

William Thornton

Text of Reflection:  
December 2, 2007

Don’t you hate waiting?  Whether you are in line in a store or restaurant, stuck in traffic, or counting the days to a vacation or visit with a distant loved one, waiting is not fun.  But today we start the season of Advent, and Advent is all about waiting.  Advent commemorates the four thousand years that the Hebrews waited for the coming of the Messiah, and marks the two thousand years that Christians have waited for Jesus’ second coming – so far.

The readings for the Mass of the First Sunday of Advent make it clear that waiting is the way of life for Christians.  Isaiah lets us know what we are waiting for: “In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain. … He shall judge between nations, … They shall beat their swords into plowshares...”  St. Paul tells the Romans,  “Our salvation is nearer now then when we first believed.”  In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that there is always a chance of not reaching the promise, “Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.”  And so we wait for the coming of the saving Christ, knowing that it is getting ever closer, but not knowing when it will be and whether we will be “taken” or “left.”

My wife and my mother had to spend hours at a store because the cash registers broke down.  They came home smiling and laughing because the store management distributed cheese, fruit and ice cream to all the customers, and the big problem became like a big party.  Did you see people waiting in line for the store openings on Black Friday?  Some were playing games, listening to music, or making new friends.  The secret to productive waiting is what you do while you wait.  And, in fact, that is what the readings tell us -- how we should wait so that the waiting does not become an empty exercise.

Isaiah tells us to “walk in the light of the Lord” and assures us that if we “climb to the Lord’s mountain” he will “instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”  St. Paul urges us to “awake from sleep,” to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” and finally to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In the Gospel, Jesus also urges us to “stay awake” and says that we must “be prepared.”

The ads for some cold medication say that it will make you “feel better while you are getting better.”   The readings for the First Sunday of Advent say that we should act saved while we are being saved.  How do we do that?  If we “climb to the Lord’s mountain” and if we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” in other words, if we spend a little time in prayer every day, and if we reflect on that prayer every once in a while during the day, the Lord will “instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”