“The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.”
Waiting is hard. It is hard, precisely because it reveals our powerlessness and that we are not in control. Sometimes our waiting can be laced with fear. Our 1st reading counsels against this attitude: “Fear not, I will help you…I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.” Jesus, picked up on this in the Gospel, counseling his disciples to not fear, and giving them his peace at his Resurrection. Yes, our Advent waiting in our lives ought not be marked by fear.
This attitude of trust in our waiting, a trust in the face of our powerlessness, a trust in the face of our fear, this is an attitude that needs cultivating daily. This trustful waiting is the attitude of Advent. 2 Peter helps us cultivate this attitude of trust in our waiting: “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” Yes, we wait, but our waiting is not useless. God is working in our time of waiting, bringing all things to him for our good. So let us wait with joy and trust, placing ourselves into the hands of our good God and the slow work of his merciful plan of salvation.