Gradually we are half-way through the Advent season. In his mid-day Angelus address on the first Sunday of Advent of last year, Pope Benedict XVI linked this initial phase of the new liturgical year with the “suggestive theme of ‘waiting’ (attesa), because it involves a profoundly human reality in which the faith becomes, so to say, completely one with our flesh and our heart”.
Who are we waiting for if not for the celebration commemorating the birth of the historical Jesus, 2000 years ago, and his eventual return at the end of time? In his first coming the Son of God handed himself into our hands as a baby but in his second coming He will come to judge the living and the dead. His coming is an invitation for conversion and a definitive judgement, an ongoing dialogue of salvation and a final fulfilment of his redemptive work. Like the 10 maidens who went to meet the bridegroom we too are called to get ourselves ready for his eventual arrival. At the midnight cry: “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him” (Matt 25, 6), the maidens rose to encounter the bridegroom fully equipped with the quality of their preparation. The wise were ready for the meeting whereas the foolish ones found themselves totally unprepared. Although the 10 of them were chosen to be maidens only five lived up to their calling!
The daily hassle of our busy lives can easily distract us from wisely attending to Our Lord’s coming. Unfortunately we can easily exhaust our moral and spiritual stature in the thousand and one worries which practically lead us to nowhere except in deteriorating our waiting! In this day and age we desperately need to make our own King Solomon’s
prayer to the Lord in order that our waiting reaps abundant good fruit. “With thee is wisdom, who knows thy works and was present when thou didst make the world, and who understand what is pleasing in thy sight and what is right according to thy commandments. Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory send her, that she may be with me and toil, and that I may learn what is pleasing to
thee. For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory” (Wis 9, 9-11).
Since “God [who] is love” (1 John 4, 8. 16), is the measure of all things, Christian charity is the secret for our discreet waiting for our eternal Bridegroom. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta shows us how: “Don’t think that love, to be true, has to be extraordinary. What is necessary is to continue to love. How does a lamp burn, if it is not by the continuous feeding of little drops of oil? When there is no oil, there is no light and the bridegroom will say: ‘I do not know you.’ Dear friends, what are our drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things from everyday life: The joy, the generosity, the little good things, the humility and the patience. A simple thought for someone else. Our way to be silent, to listen, to forgive, to speak and to act. That are the real drops of oil that make our lamps burn vividly our whole life. Don’t look for Jesus far away, He is not there. He is in you, take care of your lamp and you will see Him.” Is this kind of waiting not wholly imbued with a sure hope?
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap