Advent Reflection: What are you Waiting For?

This will be in audio form by tomorrow....but I thought I'd give it a test run here:

What are you waiting for?

This advent are you the one waiting for that new job, gripped in the fear of being unemployed with no hope of ever finding work that satisfies you?

- Are you the one waiting for that special someone to come into your life—to be with you forever in marriage? But often find yourself lonely…or depressed?
- Are you the one waiting in hope for peace in the world only to be greeted by violence in Mumbai?
- Are you waiting for that something that will bring you satisfaction or bliss but end up choosing fleeting choices –like drugs, or alcohol, or empty sex?
- Are you waiting for the long workday to end so that you can put food on the table for your kids—even when you’re a single parent and it’s hard?
- Are you the little child waiting for the day when you come forth from your mother’s womb?

What are you waiting for?

We all wait—we wait on long lines, we wait on hold, we wait for a web page to resolve. This week I waited for my computer to be fixed hoping that I wouldn’t lose any files and that my wait for the file I most needed would not be in vain.

And God knows our waiting…and God waits with us for all those things that we most desire too.

What’s more is that God waits for us…

God waits for our own hearts to be moved beyond our prejudices to open a home for the homeless.

God waits for us to have the courage to stand up for injustice when we see it happen to others.

God waits for us to challenge our political leaders with letters and for us to go beyond the political process to serve the needs of all.

God waits for someone who will care enough to love all those who we often deem too hard to love—be they elderly, lonely, filthy, jailed or unborn.

God waits for us in the sacrament of reconciliation when we are ashamed—when we think we cannot be forgiven—that we are not worthy of forgiveness—God waits for us and welcomes us home with open arms.
God waits for us each and every week here in the eucharist—so that indeed we might dare to become what we eagerly wait each week to receive.

And God waits for us to notice that God’s rhythms are in our every day—God waits for us to see where the Holy Spirit is lurking each day of our lives.

Some ask the question each time another bomb gets fired or another soldier dies…Some ask the question each time a child is a victim of sexual abuse or war breaks out or someone dies too young or a huge injustice takes place. Some indeed feel righteous enough to ask the question….

MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

And our God who waits with us…asks us the very same question.

In a world too often fraught with violence, injustice and anxiety—how often do we simply wait and do nothing?

How often to we stay home feeling sorry for ourselves instead of heading out to meet someone new, to take on new challenges, to explore something new?

How often do we make peace someone else’s problem instead of doing something for it ourselves?

How often do we not seek help when we need it and become too proud and try to do it all ourselves?

How often to we take the easy way out—and settle for booze, drugs, or sex when we can make healthier choices?

This advent…may you take time to not merely wait but to consider what you have been waiting for…and ask how Jesus may indeed end your waiting and bring a new life in Christ for you and for the world.

Each day can indeed be Christmas—if we wait for God and allow him to move us beyond waiting and into prayerful action not merely for ourselves but for all.

This advent…may you answer a simple question…

What are you waiting for?