by Father Alonzo Cox
As a lifelong New Yorker, I have grown accustomed to the city’s subway transit system.
Growing up in Brooklyn, much of my way of transportation was the subway or the bus. Throughout high school, I took the train to school every day. As a “straphanger,” you learned the importance of patience. Waiting for a train or a bus to arrive in the middle of rush hour tested my patience. Everyone, of course, had somewhere to go, whether it was to work, school, or trying to catch a connecting transfer. Waiting on a subway platform or a bus stop corner was not easy. During that time of waiting, people became frustrated, angry, and even combative both in word and action. When the bus or train would finally arrive, people would ask the conductor or driver, “Why did we have to wait so long?”
Today, we begin the season of Advent. It is one of my favorite liturgical seasons of the year. It is the shortest in time, only 4 weeks, but one of the most important. Advent involves waiting. It is a time allowing us to wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ. Over these next 4 weeks, we are invited to stop and wait. We patiently wait and listen to God’s word, allowing our hearts to be transformed by Christ, the Son of God. For some of us, waiting can be frustrating. We can ask ourselves, “Why are we waiting so long?”
Our Gospel passage from St. Matthew reminds us that we know neither the day nor the hour of when our Lord will come again, but we wait with joyful, open hearts. While we wait, we must prepare ourselves for what is about to come. In reality, we prepare for who is about to come, Christ Jesus himself. Jesus encourages us to stay awake and alert. Our eyes must be open to recognizing the many gifts and blessings that God has bestowed upon us. Advent is an opportunity for us to reflect on how we prepare for Jesus, not just for his Incarnation, but for when he comes again in glory and majesty.
It can be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas, especially as we begin to see lights, trees, and wreaths. These weeks of Advent are meant to be a time of spiritual preparation and deep reflection on Christ in our lives. As St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading from the Letter to the Romans, we must “put on Christ.” It is when we put on Christ that we are open to patience, kindness, and generosity. We must put on the armor of light, not allowing the darkness of this world to overcome us. The light of Christ must shine through all of us, as we strive to be the light and love of Jesus to all of our brothers and sisters.
Christian waiting must always be rooted in hope. During these last few weeks of this Jubilee Year of Hope, we pray that this joyful season of hope will give life to the Church here on earth. We do not wait for the coming of Christ in a spirit of emptiness or loneliness, but of true and pure hope, knowing that the Lord will lead us to the face of God the Father. As people of hope, we are called to walk in the light of the Lord, striving to live lives of holiness and grace.
As we enter into this most sacred time of waiting and preparation, let us pray that our hearts will be filled with the Holy Spirit, giving us the courage to persevere in patient hope. May the words of the Advent hymn, “O come divine Messiah,” be at the center of our prayer. The world in silence waits for the day when hope shall sing its triumph and sadness flee away.
Father Alonzo Cox is pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and coordinator for the Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns for the Diocese of Brooklyn.