3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT B

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4 WAYS OF WAITING 3:
WAIT WITH WISDOM, BRING OTHERS JOY



The difficult thing about waiting is to seem useless, helpless, and inert. That is why waiting is such an ordeal to many. In a world that values activities, achievements and performance, to wait seems to stop your world and do nothing else but kill time.

However, the Bible shows us that waiting time is an active time. There are things we have to put to a halt – like the senses, activities, appointment. But there are faculties which remain alive and active, like the mind, the heart, and the soul. And while waiting, these faculties seek out guidance, direction and wisdom from the Lord.

The third way of waiting this Advent is: WAITING WITH WISDOM.

In the gospel (Jn 1) we have a prime example in John the Baptist. People may have thought he was wasting his time in the desert, doing nothing, abandoning everything, and simply hiding from the crowd. But actually, John was growing in wisdom as he stayed in the desert. He confronted himself and grew in self-knowledge. He knew he who he was not: not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet.

He also knew in his heart that the One he was waiting for has come and that he is in the midst of the people who did not recognize him. John was filled with wisdom that he knew exactly his mission – to give way to the greater One, to be humble before the Lord, to prepare the people to discover the Light!

In the gospel of John (Jn 8), Jesus also shows us how to wait with wisdom. When an adulterous woman was brought to him for judgment, the Lord did not act on impulse. While the crowd was seething with anger, Jesus stooped to the ground, writing in silence, taking time to receive wisdom from the Father. When finally he spoke, he shamed the hypocrites condemning the woman and he filled the woman with so much joy of new life!

Like John in the desert, like the Lord Jesus in his ministry, let us wait with wisdom. Wait before you speak or act. Think before you click. Pray before you decide. Suspend your judgment until you are fully certain. Act not out of impulse but from a heart recollected and at peace with God. In this way, we will bring joy to the people around us, the recipients of the wisdom we receive.

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