I can't wait until...

My dad always said, "Don't wish your life away" when I was itchy and wiggly and could not bear waiting for something to happen. A little morbid, perhaps, but true enough. We find ourselves in a strange interim week between the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas; for a lot of children that is a long, long time to wait. For some of us adults, given the way the last year has been so fraught and unsettled, our own version of "I can't wait" is perhaps a little more grimly resolved: we would like the troubles to pass, and a calmer future to appear.

Yesterday's homily focused on the principles in the Nativity story, and how waiting for the birth of Jesus was a whole lot more personal for them. Yes, "the world in solemn stillness lay" (well, that's what the song says-- I'm not sure that the world is ever solemnly still), while waiting for the Christ-child. But for Joseph and Mary, it was the anxious anticipation of a baby. There was enough to worry about: turbulent times, having to travel for a head-count and taxes, poverty, hunger, and so on. Mary, who was young, was to bear her first child amid all of this. Joseph had a wife who was to bear a baby and he had to protect them. 

Not to mention, the Angel told them that this baby was to be the Savior of the world. No pressure. 

But I couldn't stop thinking about Mary. So young, scared, anxious, and hopeful all at once, but having to leave her mother and the other women so close to her due date and endure the rigors of travel. Donkey-back and walking are not comfortable for anyone, let alone a very-pregnant woman. I recall how many women, close to the end of their pregnancies, have an almost hourly mantra of "I can't wait til this is over" --no doubt, Mary felt that way, too. She was human, after all. 

She agreed to God's wishes, but she didn't bank on all the other difficulties, I'm pretty sure. She was a woman of great faith, but I can't imagine she didn't worry, or get scared, or rethink her life choices a few times. Childbirth is no joke, in the best of times. She literally put her life on the line for us all. She faced public humiliation, hardship, and persecution from both her community and the Romans. I don't think she gets enough credit. 

Have a good day, and may this week go smoothly for us all!

C

O, here's a song from Abbe Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, written around 1708, "O Come Divine Messiah."