Advent: Catholic ReflectionsMuestra

Be patient. Have courage. Do not lose heart. Patience is a much undervalued commodity in our fast-paced, fast-food, buy-now-pay-later world. We have lost some of our ability to wait for things. Overnight delivery is becoming more and more normal. And if our internet takes more than a split second to show us our results, we can become irritated and even give up on our search. When did our patience grow so small? Advent is the antithesis of going fast. It is almost four weeks of waiting and preparing. It forces us to slow down, to wait, to be patient. A consumer society doesn't understand Advent. It wants it to be Christmas all the way through. As Christians, we know that the waiting and preparing, the anticipating, and then celebrating is where the greater joy is found. In our Bible readings James encourages us in our patience, and Matthew tells us that in truth our wait is over as we have seen the Christ and the things he has said and done.