We wait in anticipation for Christmas reflects Offaly influencer

I was at my children's parents teachers meetings recently and as usual for me I was early so I had to wait in line with other parents. If you are like me, as soon as I enter a waiting room or line up in a queue for some meeting or event, I start to feel uncomfortable. There is something about the not-knowing how long you will be there for. And then there’s the uncertainty of what the teacher in my case or whoever it is, it could be a doctor's waiting room or a bank waiting area, you're waiting to see what they will say when you finally get in.

I try to rehearse what I will say. I get impatient and keep looking at the school clock on the wall. The silence is a deafening one; the cloud of stress and worry arising from a room or a line full of parents with loud sighs and various movements, and each dealing with their own worries and preoccupations, feeling restless and in-between.

And then, when the call finally comes from the teacher to enter, I never feel prepared. It always feels like an unexpected and rude interruption, though it was what I was waiting for, all along. The season of Advent can be a bit like that as we wait in anticipation for Christmas and the coming of the Christ child.

Occurring at the time of year when the earth moves towards the Winter Solstice, when days are gradually shortening and a chill in the air replaces a soft breeze, Advent conjures up a time of twilight, expectancy and waiting. Trees bravely shed their beauty and stand stark and naked in the freezin

g cold. A crisp frost covers the ground. A sense of the impending winter is in the air. We pause in silence and gather to remember and to prepare. Advent for many people is a time of waiting for the coming of the Lord, and many prayer services and liturgies provide us with beautiful experiences and reminders of the glory of the One who is to come. We wait for the coming of the Lord.

We are encouraged to ‘Awake and keep watch!’ However we also need to awaken to the fact that the Lord is waiting for us. There is a sense in which we do not need to wait for God. God is always present in a myriad of ways, around us, among us, between us, within us. Do we not need to awaken to the wonder and mystery of this? For those who are awake and for those who see as Gerard Manley Hopkins used to say, can see ‘The earth is charged with the grandeur of God’.

Season of hope

Also for a lot of us Life speeds up around this time of year. There’s Christmas decorations to be put up, gift shopping to be done, staff parties to be organised and attended, school Christmas parties and events, Christmas plans, more gift getting, and Christmas services and carol services and singing. It has the potential to be a season of manic hype and fun, but it also has the potential to be full of pressure and worrisome stress. There can be tensions and escalating fears, about our personal circumstances and the injustice and disparity in our own life, in our families, in our city, country and world every day. Or the people walking in deep grief, homelessness, addiction, loneliness and those abandoned on the edges of our society at a time when we’re supposed to be really happy and excited about Christmas and the future.

I think of the pressure people feel, to shop and buy a better existence, a happier family, a stronger relationship, a whole new identity. The pressure to buy things that represent a quality of life that can’t be bought. It is hard to see Advent as a season of hope when you are suffering from an incurable illness, mental difficulties, homelessness, a refugee, living in Direct provision, suffering from addiction, unemployed and abandoned on the edges of society. But Advent is a season of Hope and we must make it so for our people in need in our counties and our country. It is a season full of anticipation and hope. In my family growing up we always kept an Advent wreath whose four burning candles reminded us of the spirit of the season and served to build anticipation for the coming joy of the Christmas celebration.

Just the other day I was powerfully reminded of the symbolic importance of the Advent wreath through a beautiful allegory a close friend shared with me. It goes like this: "For me this is an important reminder that hope is an integral part of our Christian faith. The reality of Christ’s birth reminds us that God has a plan to conquer the pain, sufferings and misfortunes of humanity’s existence. That plan consists of the birth of the Christ child in a manger over 2,000 years ago. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the “ultimate hope” let us reflect on our own abundance or dearth of this vital virtue. Is our “Hope” candle still burning bright? If so, you may be surprised at how many other candles you can light, and how many lives you can touch. As usual a story might help.

A moment of learning

The following true story happened to me awhile back in my early days living in the midlands before we were blessed with our two beautiful daughters. One day  on my way home from a long day at work, I stopped off in Tullamore for petrol and to grab a bottle of water and a few treats for myself and my wife. As I got close to the entrance of the shop after filling my car with some petrol, I noticed a ragged middle aged woman maybe in her mid 50's stepping towards me rather meekishly. She looked me in the eye and said in a low soft tearful voice, 'Please, can you help me' .'Sorry', I said abruptly as I cut her off, pushing by her dismissively.

Once inside I paid for my petrol and got my bottle of water and a few treats and paid for them with a crispy €50 note and waited for the change. I headed back out of the shop drinking my water and thinking and hoping that the ragged middle aged woman would not be there. But I wasn't so lucky. There she was standing silently in the same spot. I raced by pretending not to see her. I got back into my car and drove away as fast as I could and thought about how nice it would be to get home to a cold beer and delicious food my wife will have cooked for me. That's when a wave of remorse and sadness and failure came over me. I just realized how selfish and unloving and greedy I had just been to that ragged middle aged woman. I brushed her off with the scorn that often comes easily to us who might have some of the comfortable necessities of life. What an unloving, uncaring and insensitive person I was.

I stopped the car and said a prayer of apology and then got myself into action and turned the car around and headed back to the petrol station, this time hoping and praying that the middle aged woman would be still there. And thankfully she was. I got out of my car and walked to her seeing the same meekness and despair on her face as I had seen just moments ago. She seemed afraid this time as I approached her. But I put her fear at rest when I shamefully apologized for not helping her the first time. I brought her into a close by cafe and we had a coffee and I found out that she had been homeless through domestic violence and financial problems and only for some of the homeless and social charities like St. Vincent de Paul, Midlands Simon, The Ken Smollen Food Appeal and some kind priests and nuns she would have be in a worse case.

Her  life story was harrowing but not too unlike many people's stories over the past number of years of austerity and recession who live in our midst here in our beautiful county of Offaly and our beautiful country of Ireland. I kept saying how really sorry I was for not helping her in the first case. I cried my eyes out as I drove home that evening and I can still hear her words in my ears as I left her after our coffee, "God bless you and keep you". she said.

Thought for the week

As your thought for the week, please be mindful of the people in need around you especially our elderly and those who find themselves through in most cases no fault of their own and genuinely and lovingly try to help out as much as possible with your time and with some of your 'good things' if you can afford too. Let's try to make our midland counties places of love and care for all our people especially our children and for those who might feel marginalised and alone and afraid. Let's always make our midland counties places of Hope....now that is something we can be proud to do!!! A prayer I say during Advent time for everyone in need of a prayer of Hope especially for our loved ones that are sick, unwell, homeless, abandoned and in need of our actions of love and caring goes as follows - Emmanuel, Our world waits in darkness longing for Your light. In the midst of darkness, enkindle our hope.

As we long for lasting peace in the midst of war, Be with us. As we long for families to be reunited, Be with us. As we long for homeless and abandoned people in our communities to be cared for, Be with us. As we long for enemies to be reconciled, Be with us. As we long for cures and healings, Be with us. As we long for decent jobs and decent homes and shelter and economic security, Be with us.

As we long for love and community, Be with us. Fulfill the deepest longings of your people and Dispel the darkness in our hearts and in our world. Let your Word ignite the hope the world needs to bring to life your love and justice.

This Advent, Lord, come to the manger of my heart. Fill me with Your presence from the very start. As I prepare for the holidays and gifts to be given, Remind me of the gift You gave when You sent Your Son from Heaven. The first Christmas gift, it was the greatest gift ever. You came as a baby born in a manger. Wrapped like the gifts I find under my tree, Waiting to be opened, to reveal Your love to me. Restore to me the wonder that came with Jesus' birth, When He left the riches of Heaven and wrapped Himself in rags of earth.

Immanuel, God with us, Your presence came that night. And angels announced, "Into your darkness, God brings His Light." "Do not be afraid," they said, to shepherds in the field. Speak to my heart today, Lord, and help me to yield.

Make me like those shepherd boys, obedient to Your call. Setting distractions and worries aside, to You I surrender them all. Surround me with Your presence, Lord, I long to hear Your voice. Clear my mind of countless concerns and all the holiday noise. Slow me down this Christmas, let me not be in a rush. In the midst of parties and planning, I want to feel Your hush. This Christmas, Jesus, come to the manger of my heart. Invade my soul like Bethlehem, bringing peace to every part. Dwell within and around me, as I unwrap Your presence each day. Keep me close to You, Lord. It's in Your wonderful Name I pray. Amen.