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JMJ
"Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: 'Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again: If you persevere in my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary." (St. Cyprian)
In his multi-volume work, The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger, reminds the faithful that the four weeks of Advent symbolize the four thousand years the Israelites waited for God's Anointed. The Benedictine abbot in particular exhorts Christian souls to unite in prayer with the saints of the Old Law in this holy time:
"Let therefore our desires and our confidence have their free utterance in the ardent supplications of the ancient prophets, which the Church puts on our lips during these days of expectation; let us give our closest attention to the sentiments which they express."
There are various periods in our life in which a conclusive end date allows one to ready himself for the task or the occasion presented to him. Discipline and attention are more easily imposed in these phases because of the definitive nature of the time. It is those fulfillments that are open-ended which demand great patience, and trust in God's providence.
Like the ancient Hebrews who frequently rebelled as they waited long for the promised Messiah, one may tire in his entreaties, interpreting silence as abandonment so that even the devout soul may begin to falter as he seeks an answer to his vital need. He cannot see a way for his torment to end, and so forces a solution that is not necessarily sinful, but that is not in keeping with God's will.
Rather than view this time as a burden of ambiguity, one is invited to understand it as an extension of God's mercy for it allows him to make ready his heart for the task God has prepared. St. Joseph was unaware of his vocation to be the spouse of the Mother of God until it was revealed to him by the angel; yet his heart was steadfast, his spirit fortified by the years of prayer and discipline he surely practiced as a devout son of Abraham. Simeon and Anna were blessed to recognize the Messiah because of their patient perseverance in prayer as they endured each day in expectation of His coming unlike the impatient Pharisees, who forcefully sought to impose their false Messianic conception, thereby fulfilling Isaiah's tragic prophecy:
"You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing..." (Mt. 13: 14-15)
Advent offers an opportunity to practice patience and trust in Divine Providence, being mindful of God's fulfillment of past promises and having confidence in the fulfillment of future ones. This holy season is a reminder that time is graciously given not as a burden, but as a mercy; that one's will must not be imposed out of frustration and fatigue, but that God's will must be accepted and searched out in patience and humility.
