I once informed my mother that I would be coming home from college at a particular date. Being the crazy college student that I was then, I changed my mind and returned home a day later without informing her of the change. I never thought it was a big deal until I learned later that she had taken time off from work on the day I was expected to return just to prepare my favorite meal for me. She also did not sleep that night as she kept waiting and listening for me to arrive at the house. I really felt bad about my behavior and I learned to communicate my plans better.
But her sleepless vigil for my return and her preparing my favorite meal taught me that waiting or watching for someone always was not something that was done automatically. Before we can wait for someone without becoming weary, we must have a deep love for the person always. Secondly, we must be ready to do and to endure things that would please the person. When these two conditions are met, we have an intense desire for that person and this is what makes us watch and wait for the person always. We just cannot wait for someone endlessly if we do not have this intense desire for that person.
Prophet Isaiah begs God to intervene because, even after returning to their homeland from exile, the Israelites were still being unfaithful to God. They cloaked their infidelity by their rituals and religious formality. We easily sense the prophet’s desire for God’s intervention, “Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.” This desire is also accompanied by a prayer for them all to live a life that is pleasing to God, “Would that you would meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways.” His desire for God’s intervention is rooted in this readiness to live a life pleasing to God.
The season of Advent calls us to watch and wait always for the glorious return of Christ in obedience to Jesus’ words to us, “Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.” But because our watchfulness for Him cannot be automatic, Jesus also gives us all work to do for Him so as to please Him and thus grow in our desire for Him, “He places His servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.” To the extent that we work for His pleasure, our desire for Him will be intense enough to endure the long wait for His return.
But what is this work that Jesus has given us all to do for His pleasure alone by which we also nurture our desire for Him? There are three interrelated things that He asks from us.
The first work is to be faithful to the duties and obligations of our state of life. Whether we are married, single, priests, religious etc., we embrace these as a sign of our love for Jesus and so as to please Him. We do not break our commitments to others and we do not shirk our duties and obligations. By the grace of God, we strive constantly to become the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, priests and religious that God calls us to be. Just think of all the unbearable pain, wasted time and resources, and spiritually broken lives in the Church because of the infidelity of a few of the clergy to their commitments to priestly celibacy.
The second work is that we become holy like Christ as we fulfill the duties of our state in life. Every vocation in the Church is call to deeper participation in the Christ’s holiness. We embrace this call to holiness through our vocations not trusting in our effort and resources but based on the promise that God who has called us to both our earthly and heavenly vocation will “keep us firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Cor 1:8)
The third work is that we strive to help others to grow in holiness too. In the words of the Catechism, “The two sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God.” (CCC#1534) This role of Christian vocation in the salvation of others explains why no serious and honest disciple of Jesus, who genuinely cares for the salvation of souls, can ever propose or support “same-sex” marriage.
Our world may scoff at these works that please Christ because they think that it is impossible. They will point to the many scandals in the Church and the failures of both lay and ordained in living up to these standards. This is because they have no faith or hope in the glorious return of Christ. They neither know Him nor do they see any need to watch and wait for Him. We must not be deterred by all these because, as we wait for Him, we are certain that He will give us all that we need to do what is pleasing to Him till He returns, “We are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our watching and waiting for Him is itself a source of graces for us too.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are getting wearied of the long wait for the Lord Jesus’ return or if we are weighed down by our own sinfulness and burdens, let us be consoled by this fact: “God is faithful, and by Him we were called to fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are not the ones calling ourselves to heaven; our ever-faithful Father is the one inviting us and He will give us all that we need for full and perfect communion with Christ His Son in heaven.
But heaven too is not automatic. God will only give us what we love and desire the most. He will give us only what we are willing to labor and sacrifice for. He will give us that thing that has given us greatest pleasure here on earth. We cannot hope to enter into heavenly union with His Son Jesus Christ when we do not desire Him above all things and we are not ready to please Him in all things.
Our Eucharistic Lord gives us all that we need to really love Him above all things and in all things. He moves our wills to seek to please Him alone in all things. He does all this so that we desire Him enough to wait for Him always until the end of time or end of our lives here on earth.
Let us beg Mama Mary to help us to begin cultivating our desire for Christ today no matter what the past has been. God gave His only Son to Mary because no creature ever desired the Son of God like His immaculate mother Mary. No single person loved Jesus more, was more ready to please Him at any cost, desired Him more intensely, and waited and watched for Him more than Mary.
Indeed, Mary’s waiting for her son was not automatic! This is why St. Augustine said, “The world was unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father. He gave it to Mary so that the world could receive Him through her.” This mother who ceaselessly watched for her Son and who welcomed Him with love beyond all telling is also our mother. There is thus no one who can better help us to cultivate that desire for Jesus that makes us watch for His return till our very last breath.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
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