(During Advent this will replace Father Pothin’s Weekly Reflection and The WHY Series)
Week 2: We are waiting in HOPE
For this second week of advent, I am inviting you to meditate on the theme of “waiting with hope.
God’s promises are accomplished within the boundaries of time. The promise of a Savior was made in the Garden of Eden, but it was fulfilled slowly, and many centuries were to pass before the coming of Jesus.
The scripture readings of Advent invite us to recall our faith history, to assume the posture of the expectant people of Israel, waiting in joyful hope for the coming of the Messiah. Seeing what is happening in our world today, the wars, discord, corruption, immorality etc.…. we realize, like our ancestors in the faith, that we have a very real need of a Savior. So, words like waiting, yearning, hoping, longing, listening, praying, and staying awake are Advent words, Advent concepts. Through them, we enter the wonderful atmosphere of the Advent season.
More than once in the Gospel (which are read on Sundays of Advent), Jesus tells us, Stay awake!” When we’re waiting, we’re “awake”, we’re on the alert for something or someone: news, a bus or a train, a dear friend, a family member, a letter, an email, a phone call, a zoom or text message, a sign or a sound, some information that is important to us. While we wait, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will experience God’s presence in what is happening around us.
Waiting can give us the opportunity to see and hear and feel things we’re often too busy to notice. And while we wait, we may see other waiting people, patients in the hospitals, parents, disabled people, teenagers, young children, and notice the look in their eyes, the joy, the pain, the hope, the despair; we may see beautiful things, ugly things; we may hear a kind word, a cruel word, a baby’s cry, a shout of rage, a snatch of music… Such experiences are all part of the Advent journey.
“Waiting in hope” is the signature tune of Advent, and this year, perhaps more than ever because of the chaos, we long to hear the melody of hope in our lives. Anna’s waiting for a word from her doctor on the results of a biopsy, fearful that “it” has come back… Richard watches daily for a letter, expecting word from the university, wondering if he’s been accepted… Ellen’s invited her husband to sit down and talk, realizing that their marriage is on the rocks, but he’s left the house in a rage, and now she’s asking herself if he’ll ever come back… Ted’s firm closed down six weeks ago, and he’s anxious and exhausted, looking for a new job… Marie, at the end of a long queue, all her belongings in two black bin bags, is afraid that by the time she gets to the door of the Salvation Army night shelter, all the beds will be taken… Alan wants a drink badly, it’s been three months since his last one, and he can sense himself falling… This morning, Meg had an interview for a job she really wanted, and now she’s waiting to hear the outcome… These are all Advent people. They are peoples like you and me. They’re waiting in hope. Are you?
