I always thought I was a fairly patient individual. Waiting was not usually a problem. I’d stand on lines at the supermarket or the bank, or even wait for a slow computer. I would find something to think about or even pray about. But recently I found out I wasn’t as patient as I thought.
After I had been hospitalized for a few days, the time came to be discharged. The five hours I had to wait, when I felt well enough to leave, was torture. I was annoyed. Didn’t they know I had to get home for Thanksgiving? But after a while, something within said, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.” I was well. I was going home for Thanksgiving. But what was waiting like for those who were not well? Those who were waiting . . . for diagnoses, worried about family members but who were unable to go home, and especially for death?
All of this brings me to thoughts of Advent and waiting. The word “advent “means “coming,” which so often demands anticipation and waiting. Liturgically, Advent is a season of waiting for the coming of Christ. However, does Advent retain any of its religious meaning for people today? We can’t wait especially in a culture insisting on instant gratification. Why wait? In the past the secular Christmas season used to begin with the coming of Santa Claus on Thanksgiving. Christmas now begins at Halloween!
Christians waited in anticipation and silence to commemorate the coming of the infant Jesus every year. The liturgical season of Advent is to remind us that as Christmas approaches, we should live always in joyful anticipation of the coming of the Lord and establishment of God’s reign. Rather than sleigh bells and mistletoe, the Word of God speaks about a major transformation that has already begun. But more specifically, we, you and I, are called to use the time of Advent to prepare ourselves to welcome the Christ into our lives. In a real sense, we are the inn in which Christ seeks a room.
But Advent’s waiting is filled with a “waiting in silence,” which makes the task of living in a noise-filled world even more difficult. Yet, silence is one of the languages of God! But do we give Advent a chance?
In the 13th century, Francis of Assisi popularized what we know today as Christmas. The feast of the Incarnation, as St. Francis tells us, is a celebratory feast for Christians because God says to us that it is good to be human and all that entails. Advent is the time we are given to get ready to celebrate, to do the housekeeping in the inn.
If we wait for the coming of the Lord (Advent) for four weeks, we should at least spend time celebrating the feast after the 25th of December. Someone once reminded me that every great feast has its octave, which means we have at least eight days to carry on the celebration.
If we grew up with that mindset, does it bother anyone to see Christmas trees lying on the side of the road on the day after Christmas? Running around, consuming, wrapping, cooking, opening gifts, and eating one big meal. What a way to celebrate the coming of God! No wonder there is still no room in the inn. Yet, into this wounded, violent, apathetic world, Christ comes uninvited. Isaiah the prophet dreams about the day when “one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor train for war again.” (Is. 2:4)
If we accept Christ into our own lives this Christmas, there will be room in the inn, and Isaiah’s dream will be closer to fulfillment. Let us wait and then rejoice.
Dr. Don Russo