Watching and Waiting

In his first epistle to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul wrote, "But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

This is what motivated members of the early Church to spread the Gospel, and gave them their missionary zeal. It wasn't for the sake of survival. It wasn't because they needed more members to balance the budget or fill up empty pews. It was because Christ was near. The Day of His coming was near, always right around the corner. They were driven by that clear-headed realization that each day might well be the Day to end all days, the Day that the Lord who died and rose from the grave would come to judge the living and the dead. They wanted everyone to know this Lord Jesus who was coming.

This is what gave the early Christians hope and meaning as society was crumbling around them. They knew that the Lord whose coming they looked for, and longed for, and prayed for, was the same Lord who had cleansed them in the waters of Baptism, who had reconciled them to the Father with His word of forgiveness, who came to them in the Mystical Sacrifice of His own Body and Blood in the Mass, and who had promised them, "I am coming soon."

Jesus made it quite clear: “You do not know the day or the hour.” The end times call for repentance, for a turning away from sin towards Christ, for fasting and prayer, for sober alertness and readiness, for repairing broken relationships and confessing sins. We are to be like a doorkeeper watching and waiting for the master's return. Like a watchman standing on the walls of the city. Keep watch. Be alert. You do not know when the owner of the house will come back.

Advent is a time for us to remember for whom we are watching and waiting. We are watching and waiting for an old friend. We are watching and waiting for Christ, the One who came in humility through crib and cross to save us; Christ, who hung on a cross because of our sin, and who rose from the dead to give us His victory; Christ, who baptized us into His death and resurrection; Christ, who fills our ears and our hearts with His words that forgive and cleanse us; Christ, who comes to us with His very Body and Blood to unite us to Himself – He is the One for whom we are waiting.

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Illustration by Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973)