W.A.I.T.

Second Sunday of Advent: 7th December,  2014

Is 40: 1-5, 9-11; 2 Pet 3: 8-14; Mt 1: 1-8

One fourth of the Advent is gone;  and soon it will be Christmas!  The Lord will be here anytime, warn the readings today. Last week liturgy invited us to watch and this week it invites us to WAIT.

Waiting can be of two fundamental kinds. It can be a passive indifference or it could be an active participation in the expectant events. A Christian waiting can never be an indifference and a passive helplessness regarding things that happen. That is what the world calls fate. A Christian waiting at advent is an active participation in the historical events that announce and usher in the Reign of God.

What does this wait concretely consist of?  The liturgy today offers a clarity on this.

To wait is to Wish the coming of the Lord. True Waiting begins with a real wish,  a want,  a true desire that the Lord comes. It cannot be based on a dubious or a half hearted acceptance of an inevitable situation. A truly Christian waiting for the Lord should begin from an ardent desire that the Lord should visit us. Sometimes this wish or desire can be half hearted because of the fear of the changes that the Lord can effect with the coming.

To wait is to Allow the hand of the Lord. 

Isaiah today speaks of the changes that we need to look forward to; that the valleys be filled and the hills be leveled! It cannot be a true Christian attitude to want the Lord to come but not being ready to do anything or give into any change personally or as a community. It is a readiness to allow the Lord to challenge us to perfection.

To wait is to Inhabit the dwellings of the Lord. 

The second reading speaks to us of the need to conduct ourselves in holiness and devotion. The Gospel presents to us a people who went in search of the man of God that they may get closer to God,  purify their ways and dwell in holiness and devotion. How eager are we to dwell in the courts of the Lord? How prepared are we to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord promises us?

To wait is to Tremble at the presence of the Lord.

Let each one work out one's own salvation with fear and trembling. John the Baptist personifies the need to prepare oneself in earnestness for the day of the Lord. He gives the ways and means of being prepared for the Reign of God. When the people looked for a saviour in the Baptist, he admits it with trembling before the Lord that the One who comes after him is mightier than him.

Lets WAIT... wish heartily the coming of the Lord,  allow the hand of the Lord to change our lives,  inhabit the dwellings of the Lord and tremble at the presence of Lord. Let us take stock of the journey so far and continue in earnestness.