WAITING IN HOPE
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
Waiting is a part of life. Outside schools, parents wait to pick up their children; at bus stops, railway stations, and airports, people wait for their loved ones; in hospitals, patients wait for their families. We are waiting for violence and wars to end. All they/we can do is wait… in hope!
Waiting is a part of life. All of us waited to be born, waited to be nourished, waited to be loved. We learned, soon enough, that not everything is available “instant”. We have to wait.
Advent is a time of a more profound waiting… for God to reveal himself and to come to us.
The first reading graphically portrays a people waiting for God. The newly-returned exiles hope that God will again adopt them as his children. But Jerusalem is a heap of ruins; there is no sign to confirm their hope. The people remember what God did for them in the past. This memory gives the people hope as they wait.
The gospel and the second reading give us attitudes for this waiting period: be responsible and dutiful servants; stay awake to the signs of the kingdom around us and to the opportunities to serve others; stay firm to the end though God’s grace and gifts.
Like the newly-returned exiles, we are waiting for the Lord to come. We sometimes feel anguish when God seems absent from our lives. Like the exiles, we would do well to remember the mighty deeds God has done for us. This memory will give us hope as we wait.
What attitude characterizes my waiting: optimism or desolation; joy or anguish; hope-filled service or despairing passivity?
What gifts God has given me? How can I use them as a responsible servant for the task he has given me?
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