Blessed waiting

 

Isaiah (Chapter 30) and the Psalms (27) reminds us that "blessed are all those who wait for the Lord".  I have never been fond of or good at waiting.

I am reminded of an experience I had that was both very humorous and poignant.  A few years ago, I was pulling up to the Cathedral at 6:29 for the 6:30 a.m. daily mass.  I thought I was going to be late.  I was surprised to see twenty-five to thirty people sitting and standing on the front steps instead of inside the church.  Two of the men I saw I know as sacristans (those who get the church ready for mass each morning).  There was also three of the local Dominican sisters who were there to attend mass.

There were different discussions about a possible key snafu and one of the sacristans said he was unable to do the key exchange the previous night.  “But don’t worry, Father will open everything up when he gets here.”, one of them said with a wink, “Unless he oversleeps again!”

The camaraderie of the crowd was, to me, what I sometimes imagine it was like when the Apostles and the early disciples were sitting around waiting for Jesus to return from one of His solitary prayer moments.  There was a lot of idle chatter about health, the weather, and so on; but it was tinged with an anxiousness to have Jesus present with us in the Eucharist.

A couple of people were a little testy, wondering why there weren’t contingency plans in place.  But Catholics are nothing, if not joyful in the face of adversity!

One of the men present had his knee all bandaged up, and was lamenting to another: “The doctor thought he fixed it, but it looks like he has to go back in.”  To which the other guy said, laughing, “You know, if you had the faith of a mustard seed that would be healed by now!” (Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20).  The whole crowd laughed out loud at the good-natured ribbing between the two men.

Just then, a younger man walked up, looked at the crowd, and knocked on the door.  A voice out of the crowd said, “Jesus said ‘knock and the door will be opened’ (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9), but that’s not true today!”  Another voice started singing, “Knock Knock Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Guns N Roses), then one of the sisters playfully chimed in with “I hear you knockin’ but you can’t come in!,” to which another of the nuns sang the next line, “No no no no!” (Dave Edmunds).  Despite the morning chill, it was almost fun to be waiting!

A couple of people got tired of waiting or were running late for work and started leaving.  One of the sacristans said—to no one in particular, “...they all left him and fled.” (Mark 14:50).  Someone else in the crowd said, “Do you think we should leave, too?”  The only response I could think of was, “To whom shall we go?” (John 6: 67,68)

At almost the same time, we heard the door opening from the inside, then Father appeared in the doorway apologetically, and those of us who had remained to celebrate mass let out a cheer.

I looked at the time, and it was 6:40.  Father was only 10 minutes late.  A wave of sadness came over me for those who didn’t have enough patience to wait a mere 10 minutes to experience the miracle of the Eucharist.  And then wave of guilt hit me, because I realized that I had judged those who left without knowing their reasons for doing so.  I really have to work on that—among my many flaws, that should be the easiest to fix.

The Bible passages I read today in preparation for this post tell of a God who is gracious and answers our needs.  He gives us food and drink.  He binds up our wounds and heals our bruises.  He sustains the lowly (Isaiah 30:19-26).

Holidays can be tough on some folks.  Jesus’ heart is moved with pity for the troubled and abandoned. He is a good shepherd.  He calls us to be like Him (Matthew 9:35-10:8).  

May this Advent be a time of lifting up those who are troubled.  Never fear – our Lord will come.  Blessed are all those who wait for the Lord!