Homily

As we heard in the Gospel on the feast of the Ascension, before He left the apostles Jesus told them, “Wait here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Power from on high? What could that mean? Wait in the city? Wait for how long? Oh, the apostle’s heads must have been spinning as they waited, wondering what would happen next. It would take ten days and I can see them every day asking the question, “Will it be today?” But if it was me, after three or four days I think I would have started to get a little anxious, and after six or seven days start to wonder if anything really was going to happen.

Waiting. Some of us are better at it, and some of us have a more difficult time. But mostly people do not like to wait. Some common places we have to wait are in the grocery store checkout line, or at the bank waiting for a teller. Here is a scenario that has happened many times in the grocery store over the years: In the checkout line ahead of me is an older woman. She watches as every item she is buying is scanned by the clerk. When all is done and he gives her the total amount, it is only now that she puts her purse on the counter and opens it. She pulls out her wallet and unsnaps the clasp. Out comes the checkbook, and then back to the purse to find a pen. Carefully she begins to write “M----a----r----y---J----o---n---e---s.” And I thank God her name is not “Valentyna Schedrykowski.” Very carefully the check is torn from the checkbook and handed over. Then the process reverts as she puts the checkbook back into her wallet, snaps it closed and then finds the place for her pen, and all goes back into the purse with slow and careful movements. I have often found myself getting just a little impatient waiting for all of this. I was losing valuable time, maybe two minutes of valuable time because she was, in effect, holding me hostage by her slow actions.

It seemed I was waiting for two hours but was actually only two minutes of time I had lost. First of all, the woman wasn’t holding me hostage in the grocery line of course. I was still a free man. Secondly, how would I have so expertly, efficiently and wonderfully used those two minutes somewhere else? Because, as you all must suspect, I never waste any time at all. But I do sometimes have a tiny revelation. One particular time this happened, after I left the store, I began to think about waiting. I had to wait thirty seconds for the man at the gas station to take my card. Then I had to wait at a number of traffic lights all the way home. I begin to think about how our lives are filled with things we have to wait for, including the end of this homily. (But don’t worry, it won’t be long now.) Wait for this thing, wait for that thing, waiting for seconds, waiting for months or years, waiting for things that have a definite time period and waiting for things we hope may happen, or we fear may happen, but have no idea how long it will take. One of the reasons we get impatient with waiting sometimes is because we are not in control. We must pause, stop, hold back until the wait time comes to an end, and we may not be happy that we have to wait until we can move forward. This is why God invented the yellow in the traffic lights, so that as we approach the intersection, we will not lose hope.

In a certain sense, our whole life as Christians is a life of waiting—waiting until we see the face of Christ as the disciples did when He left them on the Mount of Olives. When we see His face, He will tell us “Come” or He will tell us “GO.” But truly our lives are lives that are waiting to see Him, whether we know it or not, whether we remember it or not. So how do we spend this waiting time? Jesus gives us the grace we need to live in His divine life if we are not distracted by all the other things we are waiting for. If we use this waiting time well, we will see His face in joy. In today’s Gospel we heard Jesus say, “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”

There is always the danger of seeing our Christian faith as a faith of doing. Doing good and not doing evil, that’s what it is all about. Indeed, if you see the way government and society often view the Christian faith it is often portrayed as just a certain way of worshipping and as religion that is supposed to help people in need. But in fact our faith is first about relationship—love God with all your might and your neighbor as yourself. Those are relationships. Now relationships require us to do things, but relationships are greater than the doing of things. So in this, my entire lifetime of waiting to see Christ, it is about living in Him now so that I might also live with Him later. Yes, it means doing good and avoiding evil. But it is within my relationship to Christ, which is joined to my relationship with my neighbor that will reveal Who I am truly waiting for—or not. Yes, we are called to do good, but more important than that, we are called to be good, living in grace, as our Lord Himself is all good. So this waiting time is not about getting as much work done as possible, but rather about our relationship with Christ, and also with our neighbor. It’s about living in holiness and living in love.

So we are waiting, like the apostles were. But unlike the disciples after Jesus’ ascension, we’re not waiting for power from on high; we already have access to that power. We are waiting until we see Jesus, face to face. Because at that time there will be no more waiting for all eternity; we will have reached the final destination of our whole existence. We wait now for things to change—but at that time there can be no more change, for all will be perfect, all will be love, all will be glory for those to whom Jesus tells, “Come to me, faithful servant and enter into your rest.”

Over many years I have gotten better at waiting in the checkout line and other places, though I am far from perfect. Yet sometimes I have found it is an excellent time to say a little prayer and I have even prayed for ladies with their checkbooks in line ahead of me. Sometimes I realize my frustration with waiting is all about my sense of self-importance, and that I ought to be able to wait in a sense of patience and peace. Because, in the bigger picture, I should always remember and understand that I am waiting to see the face of Christ. May He help me to remember that and give me the wisdom to live that way. And may He do the same for all of you.