28-Nov-2017 Dear Friend, We spend a lot of time waiting. Children wait for their father to come home after many months of working in a foreign land, young people wait for their friends to come back from their trips, brothers and sisters wait for their siblings who have been staying away from home, patients wait for a remedy for their terminal sickness, students wait for the results of their exams, the unemployed wait for a new job.…All waiting tests the quality of their hope. Waiting is part of life and there is no life without it. Advent puts this in sharp focus; do we wait for God? Have a watchful time, be alert for the coming of His Kingdom! –Fr. Jude. Sunday Ref.: 1st Sun of Advent “Is God’s coming matched by our waiting?” 03-Dec-2017Isaiah 63: 16-17, 19 - 64: 2-7; 1 Cor. 1: 3-9; Mark. 13: 33-37; Today’s first reading from Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the difficulty people face when their waiting for God seems to be in vain. The exiled people had returned from their captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem, but they see Jerusalem in ruins. In their desperation all they can do is remember what God had actually done for them. When the people remember God as their Redeemer, they bring the past into the present and that sacred memory acts like a light in the midst of darkness. What the people of Israel remember is that God will live up to his ancient name- the faithful one, and will come as their redeemer. Because they hope they are ready to wait and their waiting is not a passive waiting in vain. Staying awake and Keeping fitWhen God was making trees he gave a gift to each species. But first he set up a contest to determine which gift would be most useful to whom. He said to them, “I want you to stay awake and keep watch over the earth for seven nights. The trees were very excited to be trusted with such an important task. The first night they would have found it difficult not to stay awake. However, the second night was not so easy, and just before dawn a few fell asleep. On the third night the trees whispered among themselves in an effort to keep from drooping off. Even so, it proved too much for some of them. Still more fell asleep on the fourth night. By the time the seventh night arrived the only trees awake were the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the fir, the holly, and the laurel. God looked at this little group of trees and said, “What wonderful endurance you have! You will be given the gift of remaining green forever. You will be the guardians of the forest. Even in the seeming dead of winter, your brother and sister trees will find life protected in your branches. Ever since then all the trees and plants shed their leaves and sleep all winter long, but the evergreens stay awake. This story by John Shea illustrates the two major themes of Advent: wakefulness in the midst of sleepiness, and greenness in the midst of barrenness. The evergreens show us what our role as Christians is. It is to be awake among the sleeping, to be green in the midst of the barren. We are called to be evergreen followers of Christ. This means to be active, watchful, faithful disciples just as Jesus advocates in today’s gospel.Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ The gospel today has a short parable about the householder who has servants to whom he assigns particular tasks before he sets off on a journey. He singles out the doorkeeper with a special warning. “Be on your guard then, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming.” If we were to focus our gaze on the doorkeeper alone we would realize that perhaps the greatest danger facing him is not so much that he may fall asleep on the job as that he may grow so accustomed to it that it will become just a job and nothing more. We know that gate-keeping can become boring and routine can set and take over in the best of circumstances. We can get used to anything, we can get used to the Sacred as well, we can get used to God, and then smugness, skepticism creeps into our lives. We can become Christians by habit and routine and we can keep up the external ritual and routine but we don’t encounter God anymore but only our own emptiness. We know Jesus is constantly coming into our lives. Each of us is the doorkeeper, whom God has put in charge of our own lives as well as the lives of our community, our church, our society. Advent calls us to stand ready. We can only welcome Jesus into our life if we are alert and attentive to Him. “The spiritual life is first of all a matter of being awake” said Thomas Merton. A story comes to us from Eastern mysticism:A monk asked, “Abbot, what has God’s wisdom taught you? Did you become divine?”“Not at all!” “Did you become a saint?” “No, as you can clearly see.” “What then, O Abbot?” “I became awake!”James Gilhooley, - in ‘Pastoral Life’ The Challenge of Waiting“In his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, Jewish psychiatrist Viktor Frankl tells the story of how he survived the atrocities of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Frankl says one of the worst sufferings at Auschwitz was waiting: waiting for the war to end; waiting for an uncertain date of release and waiting for death to end the agony. This waiting caused some prisoners to lose sight of future goals, to let go of their grip on present realities and give up the struggle. This same waiting made others like Frankl accept it as a challenge, as a test to their inner strength and a chance to discover deeper dimensions of freedom.”Albert Cylwicki in ‘The Word Resounds’ Doors and Dormant DoormenKaka, you’re the only man in the world who’s paid for sleeping!” remarked Joe Dias to the doorkeeper of Premal Jyoti, our Jesuit HQ in Ahmedabad. Early 1980s, when things were missing from the open corridors and gardens of Premal Jyoti, we suspected that it was the work of the Vaghris, a nomadic tribe that lived in the slums nearby. It was Dahyabhai, our parlour attendant, a Vaghri himself, who advised us to keep a Vaghri to keep watch and terminate the thieving. It worked. We employed a Vaghri leader nicknamed Kaka, who ordered his people to stop stealing from Premal Jyoti or else he’d lose his job. Thereafter Kaka has slept at the doors of Premal Jyoti. And, is paid for it! Not all doorkeepers are as lucky as Kaka. In fact, the doorkeeper described in Mark’s gospel must keep watch ‘evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn”! Doorkeeper, are you awake? Will you open the door so that He will dine with you this Christmas?Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ Watchful alwaysOne of the wisest, noblest and gentlest men who ever lived was Socrates. He lived in Athens in the fifth century B.C. He was unjustly put to death by the Athenian judges. When Socrates was in prison waiting for his death, his friend Crito came to visit him. Crito tried to persuade Socrates to escape from the prison. He said, “Socrates, I have enough silver to bribe the prison guards to help you to escape from here.” But Socrates declined it. Then Crito asked him to delay the drinking of the poison. He said, “Socrates, I know other people drink it late. They dine and get drunk and keep company with those they happen to desire. So don’t hurry.” Even this suggestion Socrates declined. He said to Crito, “You know Crito; I wouldn’t do what others have done. I don’t gain anything by clinging on to life a little longer.” Socrates called the jail attendant who came with the cup filled with hemlock poison. Then Socrates asked him, “Sir, you have knowledge of this. What is necessary to do?” The attendant said, “Nothing except drink it and walk around until your legs become heavy, and then lie down and thus it will do it for itself.” Socrates took the cup, raised it and said a prayer and emptied its contents. For some time he walked around; when his legs became heavy, he lay down and pulled a blanket over his head and closed his eyes in death. - As in life, so in death Socrates was a virtuous man. He wanted to be always at-right with justice and with God. He was a man who was perpetually watchful about his righteousness; he was a man who was perpetually prepared to meet his God.John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ Wake up!Do you remember the movie ‘Awakening’? Robert De Niro plays the part of a patient who, for thirty years, does not move or speak. A particularly sensitive and enterprising doctor tries out some new theories and, lo and behold, the patient begins to move around, talk and feel. For a brief period he returns to this world and announces to those amazed folks around him that he is back: “I have been away for quite some time... now I am back.” He becomes gradually aware of the love and concern that surrounds him and what is really alive inside of his heart and soul. –It is never too late to wake up. Advent is a nice time to wake up. Wake up to give an account of your stewardship. Wake up into a time for giving and sharing, a time that we are called to be thankful and prepare our hearts for the Christ child. Wake up and open your eyes in faith to see God present and active in your life and in your world.John Pichappilly in ‘The Table of the Word’ At all times may we be watchful and awake, waiting in hope for God’s coming!
Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
