It is the Advent Season. Advent is the season of preparation that directs our hearts and mind to the second coming of Jesus Christ and to His birth anniversary; that is on Christmas Season. This preparation comes in the form of waiting. To prepare for Christmas is to wait.
Often waiting is an experience we detest. We do not like to wait. We are always in a hurry. Waiting can be a sign of inefficiency of a system, a wastefulness of time. We want things in an instant; instant noodles, expressed delivery. Thus, even for Christmas we cannot wait. As early as September, we see Christmas decors adoring some houses in our communities. We shun away Advent and immediately proceed to Christmas. But our penchant for “instants” deprive us of the values and truths that the process of waiting can render to us. We haste for Christmas, and put into waste Advent.
Thus, waiting can be a form of delayed-gratification. We postpone that which can give us happiness at the moment, so that we can enjoy it much better when we attain it later. We allow ourselves to sacrifice now for something better latter.
One of the things that attracted me in the Dominican Order is the habit of the friars. It appeared to me so beautiful that I wanted to wear it too. Upon entering the Order, I thought I could wear in an instant, but I was wrong. I have to wait for three years in our pre-novitiate program before I could wear the Dominican habit. In those three years of waiting, wearing the habit became one of my motivations to continue my formation. I studied hard, instilled in myself the Dominican way of life, etc. to make myself little worthy to wear such vestment. After three years, I was admitted to the Novitiate and was allowed to wear the Dominican habit. The feeling was unexplainable. Though the weather then was warm, I did not care to take it off immediately. I felt a different joy in wearing it, for I waited for three years to do such. It could had been different if I had it immediately upon entering the Order.
Advent Season is a form of delayed-gratification for the coming of the Lord. Let us not be in a hurry. Wait. And in waiting, prepare. So that when the Lord comes we can “stand erect and hold our head high” and receive Him, for we had waited for Him, we had prepared ourselves for His coming into our lives.
