Busyness and Waiting

During these days of Advent I have been struck by the cohabitation of waiting and busyness.  Advent invites us to wait for Christmas in quiet, joyful anticipation even as the prophets and hymns urge us to hurry and make our hearts ready.   The climax builds as Christmas draws closer and we celebrate God incarnate.

Our society is busy about shopping and making preparations.  I find myself rushing around a store on my lunch break to get a bargain and then waiting, for longer than planned, in the line to check out.  Full days at work are followed by evenings of furious knitting or baking.  This is a season of great generosity and giving as people make donations of money, goods and time.

I have found this year  in particular a sense of gratitude for the waiting amidst my busyness.  Those moments have become opportunities to experience the joy and recognize Christ presence in the midst of it all.  Seeing Christ in the generosity and kindness of people reaching out to strangers.  Seeing Christ in the opportunities to give and to receive.  Seeing Christ in the delightful children waiting in line in front of me who brought smiles to the face of many and kept impatience at bay.   May we each be graced in these last days of Advent with moments of waiting and busyness as we prepare our hearts, complete our to-do list and celebrate with great rejoicing God incarnate.       Kimberly Porter, OSB

  

Advent: our time of waiting

     Have you ever had the experience of waiting for a baby to come?  There is much anticipation and excitement while getting ready.  There is expectation and hope and much preparation. 

     This is our Season of Advent.  We are indeed waiting for a baby to be born.  The baby is very special, He is our Savior!  While the Jewish People were awaiting the Messiah and Mary and Joseph were awaiting the birth of Jesus, there was much hope and anticipation. 

     Although Jesus was born over 2000 years ago, we must also live this reality in our own lives to make it present to us today.  We do this through our celebration of the various feasts of the Church.  We do this through our celebration of liturgy and our celebration of the Church’s liturgical year. 

     The liturgy of Advent is rich and meaningful.  Through it, we enter into the mystery of Jesus and the mystery of waiting and anticipation.  This is why the Church insists on the Season of Advent as a time of waiting and preparation.  However, our culture is such that we must always be very busy about so many things.  Like the Gospel, when Jesus tells Martha, his friend, “You are worried and busy about so many things, only one thing is important.”  In Advent, that one thing, is preparing ourselves for the coming of Jesus into our hearts, to live Jesus’ way of life, and to prepare for the final coming of Jesus at the end of time. 

     This Advent, let us become less concerned about so many “things” and center in on the real meaning of the Season.
     Sr. Barbara Woeste, OSB