>> Fr. Conrad Saldanha
We often wait for people who serve us. Though their job is to serve, yet we wait for them. Some are voluntary servers giving of themselves and their time and labor to serve people. Yet we have to wait for them in order to avail of the fruit of their services. Their service keeps them so busy, that it is enough to delay their outreach towards others.
In the Gospel Jesus announces his service of availability in order to serve us; “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mk. 10:45; Mt. 20:28)
Unlike the human compulsions God’s service is delayed not because he is too busy to reach out to the countless millions who call on his name but rather because of the limitations in our own approach. It is like going to a government official for help without the requisite papers. Or it is like a child telling the parent “I know it is only you who can drive me to school safely but I prefer the bus rather than you”.
First of all, we fail to acknowledge God as he is. We have created our own image about our God and many times expect him to work the way we want. The way we want things to happen in our lives is detrimental to us. Hence the primary knowledge is the knowledge of God. Thus knowing him we know ourselves and our true needs for our own happiness and fulfillment. Our pride and selfish existence prevents us from seeking to know more about him and his love for us.
Our image of God is rather colored by our sinful and petty ways. We sin and then we carry this guilt in our mind. “Will God accept me or reject me? Will he answer my prayers?” Then we reason as; “For I am a sinful man and he will definitely not accept me nor listen to my prayers!” This is normally our response to him; a response which fails to accept the love and forgiveness of God. St. Theresa of Avila once said; ‘Unbelief dishonors God and robs me of my heritage.” He loves the sinner and hates the sin, is an apt description of God’s character and by sending his Son among us showed the depth of his love. “For the Son of man, came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10
Therefore the sin that primarily creates a block in us to receive abundantly from him is lack of trust. This can be broadened on a scale beginning with the breaking of the first commandment, which is a total rejection of God, to acts of pride which communicates pure self belief and belief in philosophies, ideas and other religious practices, which are contrary to the Gospel. The unforgiveness and hurt that we hold onto are also practices that fall in the same arena of lack of trust in God and more of trust in self. To hold to such bitterness means to take matters in our own hand and to seek to resolve it even with God’s help but actually apart from God. This is the very reason Jesus says; “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”. (Mt. 6:15). Finally, it is the wrong kind of guilt which we carry over petty sinful acts which again communicates lack of trust in the forgiveness and tender mercy of God.
God knowing our weak state has revealed himself completely in his Son Jesus. We don’t have to strive hard in knowing this God, he has spoken to us in his Son Jesus and his mind is made clear to us in the teachings and parables of Jesus. God’s demand of us, which is an action of his love, can enable us to achieve still mightier and great things than we left to our own would achieve. The ultimate is eternal life, which men strive for even in this life. For this very reason, those who are his are never afraid to die the ignoble death. Though, the noble and the populist death perhaps any one may be willing to die.
Hence the primary way in which we wait, is, through accepting the call of death which is realized through self denial. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”. Matt 16:24-25.
Waiting denotes denial; denial of self, its wants and needs. Waiting denotes humility; a humble dependence on God rather than on self. Waiting denotes faith; that God will make all things possible to those who believe. We have basic needs but many times we fulfill it through wants that is sought through much comfort. Our quest for comforts never really ends, the human reality is this: the more we pamper ourselves the more we feel the need for it. Such is the deception in which we walk and believe with our hearts. Hence, the human heart is more prone to seek the things that lead them away from God than towards God. The humble waiting corrects these flaws of the human mind and sets it secure on the rock, which is Jesus, the God of our salvation.
Alternatively, those who seek God as their primary goal and wait on him find fulfillment whether in plenty or in want; “Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want”. Phil 4:11-12
There are great promises associated with waiting, including our very salvation. It is God’s desire that we wait and hence these rewards accompanying his promises so that we maybe beneficiaries of the many gifts and blessing of God even in this life:
ü Our salvation comes through our waiting on him: “for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”. Phil 2:13. It begins with God and is brought to completion in him. He is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, the beginning and end of all things. (Rev. 22:13). Therefore the author inspired laments: “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord”. Lam 3:26. Just as the whole creation waited for the revealing of God’s Son through his incarnation so also this revelation and manifestation of God’s salvific action in creation has, to establish us in his saving mission.
ü Waiting on the Lord restores us and helps us face the challenges of daily life. “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint”. Is. 40:30-31
ü Waiting humbles the proud man and enables him to grow in patience and confidence in the Lord who is still at work in his creation. This message will not go well with the proponents of Social Justice and the Society Changers who believe that they can be the change that they seek. Unfortunately, these are Catholics in position of authority who seem to be more a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi than of Christ.
ü Waiting on Lord trains us in enduring the hostilities of life with patience and forbearance because we are constantly assured of his presence with us. He is Emmanuel; God with us. If God is with us then who can be against us (Rm. 8:31), I can do all things in him who strengthen me. (Phil. 4:13)
One of the key post resurrection instructions of Jesus was to wait in Jerusalem for ‘many days’ to be clothed with power. (Acts. 1:4-5). We in a speed age, fail the master by not learning to wait. Unfortunately, those in authority seek to crush initiatives which seek to train people through sound Catholic principles, based on God’s word.
The true nature of waiting is not just in prayer but could be outside of prayer. It envelopes our whole life and not just the time spent in prayer. When one talks of waiting on the Lord one normally thinks in terms of prayer. Prayer is foundational and the beginning; the source and strength of all our waiting, it enhances our hope and trust in the Lord to carry on throughout the battle against the evil one. Prayer empowers us in mind and heart by helping us remember God’s faithfulness in the past and his assurance in the present. It further fortifies us to forgive, let go and surrender things to his will so that he may increase, and we decreased, may see the victory of God in the trials, tribulations and persecutions of daily life. We may sometimes have to wait and wait for the appointed time fixed by God “Thus creation waits eagerly for the “revealing of the sons of God”, (Rm. 8:19) or “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Liturgical text; after the Our Father) The liturgy itself teaches us to wait in eager expectation and joy.
God has his timing and we cannot push God to work according to our time and space. He may seem slow but is never late. He is there and is much more concerned about our well being then we are about ourselves. “Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame." (Is. 49:23) Hence to humbly allow him to reign in our lives and take full control of our life is a possibility, by which we are called to live. For this very reason we address him as Lord; the Lord of our lives. Yet he may never be, and, we may not give him that place and end-up as failures in life’s ETERNAL journey; Successful to the world but failures in the ways of God! Apart from him you can do nothing. (Jn. 15:5)
Sometimes the Lord may speak to us his plans but we may yet have to wait for a time and season which belongs to him alone.
Those who have learnt how to wait on the Lord know:
1) How to receive wisdom from the Lord without having a degree or a doctorate in theology or philosophy.(Lk.21:12)
2) Receive strength and be reinvigorated without the elixirs of medical science. (Is. 40: 31)
3) Receive adoption as sons of God (Rm. 8:23)
4) God himself will reveal himself to them (1 Cor. 1:7)
5) Will thrive on the mercy of God (Jude 1:21)
6) Will be exalted and upheld by God (Ps. 37:17, 34)
7) Though they may fall, they will not be cast headlong (Ps. 37: 24)
8) Possess eternal life; inheriting the land which our forefathers entered through faithfulness. (Ps. 37:9)
9) Will be saved from the wicked and more so see their destruction. (Ps. 37:34)
Prayer: Make me to know thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long. -- Ps 25:4-5
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