The Advent WaitRead Time 8 min

Christmas is past. I am returning to my regularly scheduled life, and I can do this with joy because Jesus is born, reminding me again of what a miraculous thing this is, what a generous gift his birth is.

It’s true we often take what we have for granted. In her wisdom, the Church ensures that we have reminders that it wasn’t always like this. Before Christ, people of faith didn’t live with the hope we have. They lived in a time of profound waiting. While we wait as well, we wait with hope, knowing we’ve been saved by the Son of God. We know he came to earth to forgive our sin, and that in his Death and Resurrection, we are saved. Before Christ, there was no such wisdom. There was waiting for the Messiah and hope of his coming, but they didn’t know when or how or who or what. They expected a warrior. They got a babe.

Before Christ, there was no expectation of heaven because the world was still separated from God by the mighty river of sin (described by St. Catherine of Siena). They needed a bridge to cross this unpassable torrent, and he hadn’t arrived. We are now on the other side of that wait. He has arrived. The Word became flesh in an act of massive humility that we cannot grasp. This God who created everything out of nothing, showed his love yet again by coming to us as a trusting, vulnerable infant. We remember and celebrate this every year.

But first, we wait

We wait as our ancestors did. This year in Advent, I decided to embrace the wait, and it was beautiful. It’s easy to get caught up in the Christmas crazy the world has convinced us is what it’s all about. And it partly is. Christmas is a time, rightly, of celebration and reunion. Since our kids went to college, it’s become even sweeter. We anticipate this homecoming. We make their favorite dinner and play sheepshead for hours. Everyone, together again, likes each other a little more and is reminded of how blessed we are to have each other. We laugh, and I hug them more often than they’d like

It seems to be another way God shows us what’s important. I wait for my daughter and sons, and I wait for his Son. I’ve become a daily Mass-goer and it made Advent so rich. Instead of only reflecting on it on Sundays, I entered in daily. When I prayed each night before dinner with Lisa Hendey’s lovely Advent book “5 Minute Prayers around the Advent Wreath” I saw the connections to daily Mass. But what surprised me most about my Advent adventure was the deep yearning and longing for Jesus that was stirred up. It was what I normally feel but bigger, almost palpable.

From the soul

One morning before Mass, I sat with those words which so accurately and gracefully express this sentiment. It truly is yearning. It is longing. It is deeper than waiting for kids to come home. It comes from the soul not the heart, and it isn’t fixed by a road-weary young adult lurching through my front door because while that is a joyful occasion, this yearning, this longing, can only be filled by Jesus Christ. It is the filling of the God-shaped hole in our hearts that St. Augustine wrote of.

We don’t wait as the ancient Israelites, but we continue to wait. We wait for God’s plan in God’s time. We wait for the Second Coming. We even wait for our own death, where we continue the journey toward him.

Advent ends and we celebrate Christ’s birth and it is so good. It is even better when we sink into the wait and reflect on how much we need him, how merciful and generous he is, and how good it is to have hope.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It changed everything. How glorious. How wonderful. He is so good.