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In
Search of the Spirit
A
monthly letter from the Glenmary Vocation Office
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December
2003
Advent(ual)
Waiting
By
Father Steve Pawelk
I
will always remember by eighth birthday because I spent
forever waiting for Bert.
I
was born and spent my early years on a farm my family
rented from Bert. He and his wife lived on the same
property—but in “the small house.” I
was the first child born on Bert’s farm (even through
I am number five in my family).
This
made me special to Bert. I would go to his house and
have cookies and milk. This became even more common
after his wife died. Sometimes I would just listen to
Bert tell stories while I petted his dog Queenie. Then,
when I was 7, Bert was moved to a nursing home. I would
visit him with my Mom, but it just was not the same
as petting Queenie and having cookies and milk while
listening to the adventures of this wise old man.
That
same year, we moved to our farm, not a rented one. So,
for my eighth birthday, Mom promised to bring Bert to
my party. I remember so well sitting out in the font
yard under the trees waiting for the car to arrive with
Bert. It seemed like forever.
I began to play mind games, saying to myself that the
next car after a blue one would be Bert. Then it would
be the fifth car over the hill would be Bert. I would
count one, two, three…— but no Bert. Finally
I saw the car come over the hill and pull up our long
driveway.
Bert
had “adventually” come. I was so very happy.
I still remember his birthday gift: a set of plastic
farm animals. It probably cost only a dollar, but for
me it was a great treasure.
Advent
waiting is like this. We are joyfully waiting for the
Second Coming of Christ Jesus. We are waiting for the
gift of peace and joy to arrive. We know Jesus will
come eventually and his coming will be good because
we have already experienced his forgiveness, love and
mercy. Yet waiting seems like forever.
Two
men from Nigeria, interested in becoming part of Glenmary,
recently had the experience of waiting for their visas
to enter the United States. (One of these men had already
waited four years for an invitation from Glenmary.)
But all their waiting came to nothing. They were not
granted visas.
Theirs
was not the waiting of Advent. Their kind of waiting
is painful and filled with sorrow. It is the pregnancy
that ends in miscarriage. We can only endure this kind
of waiting and disappointment by remembering that, despite
the present dead end, Jesus will eventually come again
to wipe away our tears. This hopeful conviction that
Jesus will come is what enables us to get through all
the waiting that comes to nothing.
But
my “adventual waiting” for Bert is the kind
of waiting Advent is all about. This kind of waiting
always comes to something — Christmas and a fuller
awareness of the God who is already with us even while
we continue to wait.
Many
of you this Advent are waiting to more clearly hear
God’s voice, God’s call for your future. And
I am waiting for some of you to finally apply to Glenmary!
Will
our waiting be more like my “adventual” waiting
for Bert or more like that of the Nigerian men whose
visas were never granted? I honestly do not know.
I
just know I’d rather wait for Bert.
Happy
Advent!
