Years ago, I was having a discussion with the music director in my previous assignment. We were discussing the plan for the Season of Advent. We agreed that the music selections for the season should reflect the themes of the season. So, she was planning music that matched the themes of waiting, watching, and listening. She also planned music that reminded us that this is also a time of preparation. As I looked through her selections I saw a hymn with the title, “Hurry the Lord is near.” I like the song and I like its message, but it occurred to me that if we sang this song, we would be repeating the word hurry over and over again. It also occurred to me that words like “hurry” do very little to reduce the anxiety that many of us seem to have at this time of year.
            With all the responsibilities we are given and with all the chores we take on we have all become more than a bit hurried. There is only so much time in a day, a week, a month, and we feel compelled to spend every moment of that time being productive. This means that we are often in a hurry. We rush to get the kids ready for school, we rush to work, we rush to doctors’ appointments. It has gotten so bad that many of us even feel the need to rush our prayer and to leave Mass early. All this hurrying, and all this worrying about getting everything done does very little to help us grow our relationship with Jesus or with one another.
            The short Season of Advent, which unfortunately comes at a busy time of year, is a call to slow down and to reprioritize. It is a call to place ourselves in the calm and quiet of the desert so that we can once again affirm our desire to know and love Jesus. It is a call for us to focus on the moment in time when God, who so loves us, took on the flesh of his most beloved creatures to set us free to live the fullness of life now and forever. Through waiting, watching, and listening we allow ourselves to grow, and we welcome the grace of the Holy Spirit to be the fodder for that growth.
            Waiting requires us to slow down, to realize that we will not, and we do not have to, complete everything on our to do list. Instead waiting allows us to prioritize what will be the most helpful in our pursuit of holiness and extraordinariness. Advent waiting gives us the opportunity to prioritize what is in front of us instead of fretting over what comes next. Advent waiting allows us to prioritize the commemoration of the coming of the Messiah and to ready ourselves for his promised return.
            Advent watching allows us to witness the faith of those who have gone before us, the saints who, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, show us by word and example that we should do whatever Jesus tells us. Advent watching is taking time to immerse ourselves in events and opportunities that help us to prepare our souls to receive the grace of the Christmas season. Advent watching is our participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and our delving into the Sacred Scriptures, especially the Gospel stories of the birth of Jesus Christ, so that we can again be reminded of the magnitude of that for which we are watching and waiting.
            Finally, Advent Listening, which is not tuning into the stations that start playing Christmas Music at the beginning of November, is allowing (perhaps forcing) ourselves to listen for the whisper of the divine voice. In Advent listening, which trains us to listen in every season, we hear the call to hope in the victory of good, the invitation to share in the joy of salvation, and truth of our dignity and destiny.
            Although brief, the Season of Advent is like a vacation that we wish would never end. It is a time, a season, in which we do what we must to remind ourselves that while in this world we are not of this world. As we prepare to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, to celebrate heaven crashing into earth we are reminded of, and we give thanks for the length to which God will go to show his love for us. Advent is not a season for shopping for gifts, it is, instead, a season to recall and to give thanks for the greatest gifts we have ever been given…the gifts of salvation, eternal life, and unconditional love.
            The Season of Advent has arrived, and the good news is that there is absolutely no need for us to hurry through this season. Instead, may these days of waiting, watching, and listening be a time of peace for all of us. May this Season of Advent once again restore our awareness of the length, and breadth, and depth of God’s love for us. May our waiting, watching, and listening give us more than of glimpse of the fulfillment of our holy hope as we recall the birth of Jesus Christ.