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Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

Today's Lectionary Reading
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As a child, I remember how long Advent felt as I anticipated presents
on Christmas morning and a week off school.  As an adult, I have
the opposite feeling, marveling at how quickly Advent flies by. 
Instead of something to anticipate, Christmas feels like a deadline
with so much to do and not enough time to do it.  Throughout my
life, my focus during Advent has often been on waiting for Christmas
day to arrive. No matter how long or short it felt, I knew that
Christmas would indeed arrive on December 25.

But this year has been different.  Over the past several weeks, I
have been praying earnestly for good news on a personal matter. 
What has made the wait particularly challenging is not knowing when
the news will come, much less if it will be the good news I
desire.  Unlike waiting for Christmas, it is unclear when or if
this prayer will be answered. 

As the days have stretched into weeks and months, I have started to
wonder if God is even listening.  And that brought me to
today's Gospel, where we read about the genealogy of
Jesus.  Getting through the names requires patience, but imagine
the patience required of the generations who wondered, "Will
this be the day/week/month/year that the Messiah will arrive?"
only to have their entire lifetimes pass without the promise being
fulfilled.

Likewise, many of the people we serve are forced to wait for answers
that don't always arrive.  They might be waiting for space
to open in a rehab center.  They might be waiting to match with a
child to adopt.  They might be waiting for a final decision on
their immigration status.  Unfortunately, some people will not
get the answers they need before it is too late. 

So how do we reconcile waiting for answers to prayers that might never
come?  The only answer I can find is Emmanuel - God with
us!  You see, even at Christmas, God does not promise to fix
every problem we face.  Instead, God promises to be with us, in
the muck, in the mud, in the mess.  And ultimately, in the
waiting, even if we spend our entire lives waiting for answers to
prayers that do not come.

Through Catholic Charities, we can be the presence of God for the
people we serve.  May this Advent and Christmas season be an
encouragement for us and a reminder that no matter how long we must
wait, God is with us!  

Peter Weiss has been the Director of Living Justice with Catholic
Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay in 2017.  Peter's
role is to promote Catholic Social Teaching and raise awareness about
issues of injustice throughout the Diocese of Green Bay.




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