Waiting, anticipation



Most of us don't particularly enjoy time spent in a waiting room, or the anxious anticipation of news that concerns our lives, such as a job offer, acceptance into a school or study program, results of a test.

 Here we are in Advent, waiting on God. The good news is just that--Good News, the gospel message that God has come into our lives and our world, forever altering the course of history.

 So what, then, do we wait for? What are you waiting for? Or, what is being born in your life or your heart at this time?

 In Advent language, we wait for three things:  the coming of God into our world in the Incarnation (which already happened, and which we celebrate at Christmas), the coming of Jesus into our lives in the here and now, and the coming of Christ at the end of time to usher in a new age.  That new age is described in today's reading from Isaiah 25:6-10a:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.

On that day it will be said:
"Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

We wait for a lovely world, where all have their fill (and the food and wine will be delicious!), none will be at odds with one another, and all will be joy-filled, for they have been saved by God.

What are we waiting for now?  Most of us don't think this is coming right away, and yet we wait.  Part of our waiting involves making this world fulfill some of the desires of God--helping one another get what we need to live humanly, treating one another with respect, and working for peace in our own little worlds and in the world as a whole.  Sometimes the world we live in seems so far removed from that Kingdom of God, and yet we must continue to hope and to strive for God's desires.

Right now, we can prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives. We can examine how we live, and make improvements, even if we are already basically good people.  We can ask ourselves, how can I grow in these weeks before Christmas?  How can I become more like the image of God that is implanted in me?

 Maybe that means spending a few more minutes with Jesus each day in prayer, pondering the birth of Jesus in my heart.

Maybe it means being kind to someone who annoys me.  

Maybe it means dwelling on the Gospels as they tell us of the good news of Jesus Christ--the one who heals us, who feeds us, and who calls us out to be our best selves.  In that, may we find hope and encouragement for our Christian journey.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Transitions

Image
On Monday, we had a feast day here (the patron of El Ejido, so a very local feast) and my community went for an outing together. We passed this: I giggled for miles. Erh, kilometros.  I'm still a little giggly about it. I don't know that they can be seen well in the photo below, but there are also tepees and storefronts. This area was used as a filming location for "spaghetti westerns," including also some scenes from The Good, The Bad, and The  Ugly.  I'm not sure what else. It is in many ways like the southwest of the United States...and yet it is so far away. *Giggles* Across the highway was a medieval Arabic (Arabian? Not sure the right word) castle... we couldn't find a way up via car (I think we could have hiked, but that wasn't on the agenda). Our destination took us past "mini-hollywood" to a town called Sorbas, population 2,400. It's just a sweet little pueblo in the mountains of Spain, surrounded by o...
Read more

A little spring beauty

Image
Sometimes it's just necessary to go to the beach... We had guests with us all weekend, which means my brain was on Spanish language overload. Sunday we took them to the beach--it was a beautiful summery day for walking along the boardwalk. I love being able to listen to the waves come in. This was only the third time I've been to the ocean since coming here over two months ago. If I had my way, I'd be there every weekend! Alas, that's not how life works. I'm very grateful we had time to be there now!     This week is right in the middle of my time here in Spain . Knowing this makes me a little reflective of what's going on inside me. I don't share a lot of that here because it's such a public space! Yet, there's a ton moving in my heart and passing through my thoughts all the time. I'm understanding more every day why people are on the move, why they leave behind everything in order to come to a place where they don't know anyone...
Read more

Beginning Holy Week

Image
(I wrote this on Sunday and just now am getting to post it... enjoy!) Holy Week is upon us! Living in a Catholic country means that it is a holiday for us here, with no classes to teach or offices open. It also means a bunch of celebrations/events, many of which I'm told are unique to Andalucia.  There is a confradia here that has had its own triduum these past three days, culminating in a postres contest (desserts) and the giving of medals to new members, who are mostly very small children (even one baby). I know they have something to do with up-coming processions, but I still don't exactly understand what. Today, Domingo de Ramos (which literally means Branches' Sunday, rather than Palm Sunday) included a lovely mass with many more people in attendance than usual... Here are some pics and a little video of the parish during the blessing of the branches before we entered the church. This evening there is what's called an "auto-sacramental," ...
Read more