Waiting As Fast As We Can
2022년 11월 27일Waiting As Fast As We Can
< The First Sunday of Advent >
Advent is the season that forces Americans to do the one thing we hate doing most: wait. Children might be worse at waiting than adults, but in a way, they’re more honest. They are filled with impatience and anticipation, awaiting the day when they can at last rip open the gifts to see if their heart’s desire has been fulfilled. Adults hide our impatience behind a façade of annoyance and anger, so we fill up our time doing a lot of busywork: shopping, decorating, writing cards, and even coming to church!
But we must stop and ask ourselves, not what are we waiting for, but for whom? Of course, we await the coming of Jesus, into our world at the Second Coming, but what makes us think we’ll be able to recognize him any better than those who expected him 2,000 years ago? What if Jesus has already come and lives among us in disguise? A stranger? A neighbor? A beggar? A friend or even a relative? Through prayer, penance and charity we can discern the presence of Jesus in our world, our city, and our neighborhood even today. Advent can be a time of great expectation as we actively wait and search for the One who is actually also waiting and looking for us.