The basic element of Advent is waiting. What is waiting and what goes into it?
The Prophet Jeremiah voiced a hopeful expectation that a repatriated Israel will be governed by one who is descended from their great ruler, David. This Son of David will inaugurate a period of prosperity, justice and peace. In like manner, Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians while it expressed confidence in Christ’s 2nd Coming, it also recognised that what has widened was the gap between His promised return and the reality of His Advent. Christians were dying even before the "Parousia". It is within this aperture or lacuna that Paul spoke of blameless living as we prepare for Christ’s return.
In other words, between now and judgement, we do two things. Firstly, we wait. There is nothing else we can do except to wait. Secondly, more than loitering or lingering, this preparation is pregnant with the possibility of a virtuous life. It is living in such a manner that even if death were to catch us unawares, we would have nothing to be ashamed of.
While Advent is the period of preparation for Christmas, that is, of the King coming to us as a Child, born in a manger, still, we are waiting for the King of the Universe. He is the Lord who is also judge of the world. It makes sense that our waiting cannot be passive but must show that we are ready at any time to account for our belief and behaviour. Thus, St Paul’s seminal teaching to the Thessalonians is basically our default mode and there is a formula to it.
Waiting is always stressful. Think of a time when as a parent you are waiting for your child to come home from a party at the agreed upon time. As the time approaches your sense of trepidation heightens. Will he or she open the door at the said time and once you have passed it, the minutes start to tick slowly away and the waiting becomes more excruciating and uncomfortable. How do we get out of this discomfort? Thankfully we need not pace anymore. We have electronic gadgets to take our minds off the edge. Gizmos may be useful but they can also be wasteful of time.
So often when we wait for the next appointment to show up, the period of time in between are often fraught with restlessness as we do not know if we should start on something only to be interrupted by the person showing up. Like waiting in the clinic or government offices, our go to mode for waiting is the handheld device. Our ability to wait is rendered more complicated because life appears to pivot around the principle of pleasure. As Fulton Sheen made a rather apt remark about living in a sensate age, neither governed by faith nor reason but by feelings.
This makes mastering the virtue of patient waiting more difficult. Our concept of waiting is closer to the maxim “Carpe diem”, which is more an opportunistic motto to “Seize the day”. This kind of waiting is not a waiting for the Lord. Rather it is waiting for the best moment. Why?
We are children of instant gratification. Advertisements by nature play on our "lustprinzip" as the Germans would call our instinctive crave for instant pleasure. Nowadays, a sizeable number of ads are created with AMSR in mind. It is auto meridian sensory response otherwise known as “brain tingles” which are triggered by certain sounds and may or may not be accompanied by equally soothing visuals. The best example is the 3X Spicy Chicken from McD. You literally hear the crunch, the crackle and the subsequent slurping in of air to draw us into the burning sensation of spiciness. It operates along a Pavlovian principle that plays on our need for instant gratification.
I heard a radio blurb the other day from a neighbouring country touting the best place to live, to work and to play. Like “Carpe Diem”, the “best” factors in the virtue of patience. We patiently for the best life-partner to come. We long for the best job to have. We search for the best fun to have in living and working. This kind of patience is not alien to us. Almost like tiger waiting for the opportune moment to pounce on a prey. This type of patient waiting fits along the line of fulfilment. Worst is when we wait and dare not take any chances for fear that the “better best” is just around the corner.
In the midst of waiting for the best to coming along, the next question to ask is what it means to be fulfilled. Noticed how life is organised around work and play. Where is the component of man which points to his spiritual or transcendent self? If fulfilment is satisfied by the best place to live, work and play, then why is it that many are still dissatisfied? Why are there many who are depressed considering that ours is a generation that has more than enough to eat, to enjoy life and to be fulfilled?
We might want to look at where fulfilment is “best” located and why waiting is part of the process. As St Paul’s teaching to the Thessalonians is the accepted norm for the time between now and the 2nd Coming, then the answer must be found in the “already” and “not yet” nature of fulfilment. Seizing the day is central not to fulfilling our cravings but rather to the preparation for the coming of the Kingdom either through our death or when Christ comes again. This drill is a training for eternity. It requires us to be watchful and awake.
This brings us into prayer. Nowhere was there in the radio endorsement of a good life was there any mention that we are both body and soul. It is true that “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. But this saying forgets that Jack the playful boy without prayer will never be happy forever.
Like Lent, Advent has a prayerful component to it especially when we are waiting. The same situation of waiting for a child to come home, our instinctive reach is to reach out for distraction. What if, instead of wasting time, reach out for your rosary. Spend the quiet time in prayer before God. It may not take away the edge of our anxiety but it will give us a better perspective to our waiting. Advent waiting is prayerful because praying is necessary for our spiritual energy as it grants us the courage to stand before God as we wait for His coming whether at the moment we die or when He truly comes again in the “Parousia”.
