I pray for the Grace to wait as my Lord wishes me to. For I am a Catholic. And I should know how to wait…
The season of Advent is finished now. It starts four weeks before Christmas and always ends on Christmas Eve.
And in these days following Advent, I have been reflecting on the purpose of the Season of Advent, because it is a season of waiting.
In other words, the word “Advent” is synonymous with the word “Waiting. And it is about that idea of waiting that I have been thinking today…
You see, it appears to me that we Catholics should be quite good at waiting for things. You see, the whole basis upon which our faith is based, is that we are here on Earth to WAIT for Eternity…
And this strikes me as very profound because everything about our life should be directed towards patience, for it takes great patience to wait…
And so, as I have been reflecting on this concept of waiting, I have also been reflecting on the things that I can do to improve my ability to wait – to assist myself to become better at waiting.
I should not be waiting alone. When I wait in community with others – praying with them as part of their community and the community of the Church, the wait for eternity is more comfortable. And while I am waiting, I should look back at what God has done for me. In other words, when the trials are greatest and I feel most tested in my faith, I must look back at all the blessings in my life (and throughout history) and understand – knowing deeply in my own heart – that if God has seen fit to place me into the trial that I am enduring, then I must be certain that God will not suddenly give up on me or my ability to preserve in this trial…
While I have waiting, and looking back, I must also look at the present. When Saint John the Baptist called his apostles to repent, what he was really doing was inviting them to look at the direction and trajectory of their lives and to consider whether that trajectory was leading them onwards to life or towards eternal death instead. And this is important. You see, when I was a little girl, my father used to tell me that people were often confused because they could not see the forest because of the trees. And the same applies in my spiritual life. Sometimes, working along one direction is actually not the right direction at all, and it takes great wisdom to be able to slow down and even stop and assess the direction of my life so that I can change course to walk the road to Calvary…
And in understanding this, I need to understand how to rest along the way. For there are souls who suffer far kore than mine, who fall on the road to Calvary, carrying their Cross… And just as I pick up a magazine when I am waiting in the doctor’s surgery for my appointment, so too should I pick up what I need spiritually so that I can cope with the journey in its entirety…
And so, as I consider this season of Advent that just passed, it occurs to me that I have another year to wait until the next Advent. And knowing that, I pray for the Grace to wait as my Lord wishes me to. For I am a Catholic. And I should know how to wait…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.