Watching and Waiting

Watching and Waiting December 1, 2013

[Written for The Southern Cross]

If I got up early enough as a kid, I would see the watchman come up to the house, stand by parents’ window and let my father know he was leaving.  I recall at least once hearing his voice as he spoke with my dad through the cracked window.  We needed a watchman since the police could provide very little security in a city where crime and terrorism were gaining strength.

I have oftentimes wondered about this watchman who spent all night vigilant that nobody would break into our property.   I am convinced he was more vigilant for the first rays of sunlight since the daylight meant he was free to return home.  He must have waited anxiously for the daylight.  After a dark, cold night, the much anticipated morning light must have brought him so much relief.

This memory of the watchman comes back to me every time I read or hear Psalm 130: “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.”  The psalmist invites us to wait for the Lord with greater vigilance and joy than that of a watchman waiting for the morning.  That is intense waiting.

As certain as daylight comes for watchmen, we too know for certain that the Lord will come.  The season of Advent which is now beginning gives us four weeks to enter into the psalmist’s invitation to wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.  It is difficult to wait, yet by waiting we grow in virtue and strength.

Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for the commemoration of the Lord’s first coming at Christmas, while at the same time, it is a time of waiting and preparing for the second coming of the Lord at the end of time.  Advent is about the two comings of Christ, the first which has already happened and the second one which has been promised.

At every Mass we ask God to grant us the grace to wait free from sin and safe from all distress as we await the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  In the same way it would be absurd for the watchman to fear the arrival of daylight, we must not be afraid of the arrival of Jesus Christ.  Our faith prepares us to meet him.
We prepare to meet Christ by following His law of charity, by loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves.  We prepare by witnessing to the love of God at all times in word and deed.  We remain watchful by seeking the Lord at all times with as much desire as the watchman waits for daybreak.  We remain vigilant by finding hope in all things and in all situations, even those that are difficult.  We remain watchful by keeping a hopeful expectation of the future, trusting that the Lord is with us and that He will deliver us from all distress.

We wait as vigilant watchmen aware that the Lord has already come and will come again.  We rejoice that the Lord we wait for gives us all that we need to find Him.  Prepare the way of the Lord this Advent.  Be more vigilant than the watchman so you will not miss the first signs of the coming of the light.

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