Impulsive and Patient

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the third Sunday in Advent proclaim change and at the same time encourage patience. This combination is often totally frustrating. How often do we want to launch into the task, get the reward, be there now! It is a part of our nature which is important for our lives. Being alive is evidenced in our response to new opportunities and changes. The impulsive tendencies are in tension with patience. The text from the letter of James uses the growing cycle as an example of required patience. The impatient may tend to be concerned with today and living this minute with attention to others. The reward described by Isaiah to the Hebrews in exile in Babylon took years for realization. We know that the riches of healing and support for the poor and the end to war are still being patiently sought by faithful believers. Matthew uses the dialogue between Jesus and the disciples of John to indicate that the change which would make even the great prophet, John the Baptist, in the image of Elijah, the least in the Kingdom which was beginning to change the relationship between humanity and the Divine. Fr Larry Gillick SJ reflects on these themes from the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton University in St Louis. The waiting for Christmas which can be seen as an experience of the tension between impulse and patience is a gift to instruct our being in the understanding of our relationship with the Divine through the indwelling Spirit