1st Sunday Advent - Year C

 A reflection on the book “A Spirituality of Waiting” authored by Henri Nouwen (1993) seems worth considering for this advent.  As Nouwen has affirmed, waiting is not a very popular posture.  Many consider waiting a waste of time.  For many waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go.  Think of the “first strike” approach of some nations towards others.  The more afraid we are, the more difficult it becomes to wait.  But advent is a season that is marked by a spirituality of waiting.

In the pages of Jewish and Christian scriptures, we will find a different attitude toward waiting.  Recall psalmists’ prayers.  They enunciated the hopes and longings of their people, who awaited God’s messianic intervention on their behalf: “Our soul waits for the Lord who is our help and our shield.” (Ps. 30:22) “My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.” (Ps. 130:6-7)

In the gospel we find the waiting of Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Anna, Simeon and John the Baptist setting the scene for the welcome of Jesus. 

The quality of waiting in these scriptural heroes and heroines can be characterized in several ways.  Nouwen describes them thus: First, theirs is a waiting with a sense of promise.  Like a seed growing within, the promise promotes endurance.  We can only wait well if what we are waiting for has already begun for us.  In today’s first reading, Jeremiah (33:14-16) reminds us that all God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus, the shoot of David, who comes among those who wait in order to do what is just and right.

Second, the waiting that we see epitomized in the scriptures is active.  Our ancestors in the faith did not remain in a passive or idle state.  They were actively and fully present to each moment.  Paul, in today’s second reading (1Thes. 3:12-4:2) reminds us that our active waiting for the Lord’s second advent must be exercised in love for one another and for all.  In the gospel (Lk. 21:25-28, 34-36), the evangelist exhorts us to fill our active waiting with constant prayer and careful watchfulness for signs of the Lord’s nearness.

Our waiting for God and for Jesus is also to be patient and open-ended.  Mary exhibited this manner of spirituality in her waiting when she said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38).