Advent is a season of our faith that is about waiting, about hope-filled anticipation and preparation of our hearts and souls in a spirit of quiet, reflective trust. I think it’s interesting that this particular activity, waiting, anticipating, well waiting for something or someone is pretty low on most of our lists of things we like to do.
In our modern complex world, who wants to wait? We live in a culture that seems to try and create a world where waiting is almost nonexistent. In general we are a nation of fast-food, fast friends, fast e-mail, and even faster tweets and texts. We want our water to boil in 90 seconds and our internet to be able to download apps, games, music, or movies at the speed of light. In this process of waiting we create an environment in which there is always this feeling of not yet having what we need or hope for. There is also this great emphasis on the theme of joy on this third Sunday of Advent. So, I’d like to reflect on this day about a faith-filled response of how we might find joy, and not a hurried anxiety, in this process of waiting.
This morning we are exposed to the lives of three prophet’s, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus (acting here as prophet), human beings, and holy people who were experts in waiting. In their waiting and what their prophetic witness meant, offered those that listened to them, as we too listen to them on this Advent Sunday so many centuries later, of the joy and the exquisite hope that waiting for good things can bring. So, like them, we have to re-envision the process, that this whole process of waiting is a part of life, and as hard as it is to admit, it is part of God’s plan, a plan that is ultimately about our own and the world’s joy.
The prophet’s work is to proclaim what is, to state things as they really are. Sometimes, that means a proclamation that something incredibly wonderful is about to happen. Sometimes it is a proclamation of the corruption that exists, and a warning to people that if they continue to choose death or violence they themselves will die or be destroyed. Prophets have a very difficult, but obviously very essential, role.
In the reading from Isaiah today, we see the prophet talking about something so extraordinary and so positive. He reaches into the pain that is in the human hearts, those back then and our heart today. It’s the pain in everyone. It’s the pain of not yet being enough, of not being quite there yet. It’s the pain of not being able to accomplish the goals we would like to accomplish, but in faith trusting in our waiting that Joy will be our final gift.
Listen to the beautiful images in the Isaiah prophecies: Life feels like a desert at times. It feels arid. And yet, Isaiah says a time is coming when there will be a great fountain in the desert. There will be wonderful trees and fruitful plants. There is the image of abundance. In the passage today, we hear that those who are afraid, weak or frightened will become strong in time. They will not be filled with fear. They need to see something that is so encouraging and hopeful.
John, in our Gospel, is very much in the right by saying the bad guys are going to be destroyed and the good guys are going to be saved. So, wake up people and choose the right thing! John’s recognition that Jesus would do a baptism in a different way was so insightful. Jesus, too, was a prophet. I love this image of Jesus sending his Word back through John’s disciples in today’s gospel, talk about insight.
He says, “John, pay attention to what is going on.” This is so interesting because that is the phrase John would say to everyone else: “Pay attention. Wake up.” Jesus becomes the prophet for John. He says to him, “Look at what is happening. The blind are seeing. The deaf hearing. Those mute begin to speak. The lame, they begin to walk.” Then he says something extraordinary: “You know, John, dead people are being raised”. These people who are dead spiritually and emotionally and completely unaware of what they are doing to others are waking up. The healing work is happening. Hope!
Jesus recognizes that the real prophetic statement to everyone is not a choice between “Change or die.” But the real prophetic message, the one our soul longs for the most, is: change, let me into the manger of your heart, and find ever more life. Rejoice in new found hope as you let me heal and transform you. So we live on in hope. Hope that time is passing and every day we are closer to that second coming. The hope found in living as Christians offering mutual care, support, and the fight for justice, in a world still in many ways dark and despairing. Hope in Jesus whose love was not of dominance but humble healing, liberation, and new life.
Ultimately, the hope of Christ is the reign of divine love that we, with God make real here and now, but also the real and wondrous and exciting truth of even greater love to come. O patient, waiting, and expectant hearts, may we too be prophets, for can we not feel it, can we not as we continue our advent journey to Christ Mass (Christmas) light, see the unfolding of the already, the clear promise of a heaven yet to come.
Rev. Kent Beausoleil, SJ
Rev. Beausoleil, SJ, PhD, has lived in the Creighton Jesuit Community since 2020. Currently he ministers as the Market Vice President for Mission Integration (NE/IA) for CommonSpirit/CHI Health while continuing his ministry as a mission leader at five local area hospitals: Immanuel Medical Center, and Lasting Hope in Omaha, and Mercy Corning, Mercy Council Bluffs, and Missouri Valley in Iowa. Joining the Jesuits in 1997 and ordained in 2007 his Jesuit formation focused on three types of ministries: healthcare, spiritual direction and pastoral counseling, and higher education focusing on young adult spiritual development.
Rev. Kent A. Beausoleil, SJ has a PhD in Student Affairs from Miami University in Oxford, OH. He also possesses master’s degrees in public administration, philosophy, divinity and education. He loves to walk and be out in nature, cross-stitch and bake.
The ability to reflect on other contributors’ reflections as well as being able to provide a personal monthly spiritual reflection has become an important and integral part of my daily prayer.
