Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

Waiting is hard. We spend much of our time waiting. Waiting at the doctor’s office. Waiting in line at the grocery store checkout (I always choose the wrong line!). Waiting for the arrival of guests. Waiting for a diagnosis. Waiting for dinner time. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot.... For the greatest, most profound, tenderest things in the world, we must wait. It happens not here in a storm but according to the divine laws of sprouting, growing, and becoming.”

During this time of waiting, God is singing in our hearts. We need to perfect our art of waiting and listening for God’s voice. I know someone who suggested an Advent scavenger hunt, looking for the signs of Advent in her daily world. Where do you see patience? Where do you find those who keep awake, who keep alert for the coming of Christ? Where do you see signs of hope?

Henri Nouwen said, “The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.” Our waiting continues. We pray for patience and hope. Kate Bowler said, “Advent is a time marked by waiting. We wait for God to make all things right. For justice to be meted out. For world leaders to make the right decisions. For wrongs to be righted. For our communities to be safe spaces for the vulnerable. For our earth to heal. We wait for our lives to get easier—for us to have the financial security we need, for our relationships to be restored, for our bodies to ache less. We wait for our parents to understand us and our families to feel whole. We wait for our kids and grandkids to be healed or come back home. We wait for the grief to end. But the waiting of Advent is one marked by hope. We wait with expectancy. With anticipation for the inbreaking of God to make all things new.”

May our time of waiting be blessed. May our waiting also be filled with action to carry out God’s plan in the world. May our waiting be filled with love and patience.

Blessed Angela: “Be ready at all times for God’s call.”