One of my favorite stories of Cardinal Dolan...if you haven’t had the chance to experience the Cardinal of New York on Catholic Radio or maybe on EWTN you are missing out…he is quite a character. Put together David Letterman…GK Chesterton with an American accent…John Paul II…and just about every character the actor John Goodman has ever played. Mix them all up and you get Cardinal Dolan. One of the great things about the Cardinal is that he always seems to offer a completely fresh perspective of whatever subject being discussed. So…of my favorite Cardinal Dolan stories goes that once when he was at the United States Bishops annual meeting he had befriended a couple of the hotel staff at which the meeting was taking place. And at one point the bishops were in a holy hour in one of the grand ballrooms of the hotel. The Cardinal had to step out for an important phone call…and as he was going back into the holy hour one of these employees stopped him in the lobby and asked…what are all the bishops doing in there…they’re just sitting there saying nothing in total silence…aren’t they supposed to be meeting and working together…what are they waiting for? The young man wasn’t a practicing Catholic and didn’t know what a holy hour was. So Cardinal Dolan began to explain what a holy hour was…sitting in contemplative silence in the presence of God…adoring the monstrance with the Eucharist…kneeling in prayer…and half way through his explanation the Cardinal stopped and realized what the real answer should be and that this young man had actually hit the nail on the head. Dolan said…oh yes…you’re right…they are waiting…they’re waiting for God to answer their prayers.

That is a beautiful response and the young man could see what was happening…that they were indeed waiting around…but he couldn’t quite understand it. Cardinal Dolan in his wisdom saw that the question was actually the answer. He said…we’re just waiting for Jesus to answer our prayers.

After the Bishop’s meeting which always takes place in the late fall Cardinal Dolan was pecking out a new entry on his blog about that profound conversation…that this rather matter of fact…quite simple exchange between a prince of the church and a curious young man was really what Advent is all about. Dolan asked…what are we waiting for? We’re waiting for Jesus to answer our prayers. We wait for his grace and mercy upon us. We wait for clarity in our lives. We wait for resolution to our problems. We wait for answers to the particular prayers…answers to why our relationships go through struggles…why our loved ones get cancer…why we struggle sustaining our prayers and our faith…why our hopes and dreams still wait to be fulfilled.

This is Advent…one of my favorite liturgical seasons because it’s so true. We always seem to be waiting. God isn’t as quick as we want him to be and that’s actually good. In fact…isn’t our whole life an Advent of sorts. We live in anticipation for something really great to happen to us. Along the way we encounter wonderful moments and difficult moments for sure. And we never seem to lose hope that something great is going to happen.

I like to play golf…I’m pretty good…not professional but I would say an intermediate golfer. Some time back I got an 8 on a par 4…that’s not good. I was intensely frustrated…after a great drive I chili dipped two wedges and finally got on the green only to 3 put. I felt like the whole round was ruined. But then as is always the case…I drove up to the next tee box and hope once again appeared. And sure enough…on the next hole I hit the most magnificent 290 yard drive splitting the fairway down the middle…then I dropped an 8 iron four feet from the pin…and finished it off with a birdie put-dead center in the cup. Golf is great because there’s always hope. Advent is the same way…we wait because we know that He will come and He will make all that is wrong with our lives - right…all that is chaotic – peaceful…all that is frustrating – satisfying. This is what Advent means. This is why Advent is so important to all of us because none of us is impervious to disappointment and struggle. We wait in hope with assured faith that He will come.

I wonder…what would our Advent be like if we waited in this way. Ipads…X Boxes…We’s…Coach purses…sweaters…socks…new Makita drills…first bikes and teddy bears. These are all good things for which to wait…and there’s certainly nothing wrong with them…but their easy things to wait for. What if this Advent we waited for something even better? What if during the next four weeks we asked God about the difficult questions of life and then waited patiently for His answer. What would Christmas be like if we really did ask Him about these quandaries and then patiently…faithfully…joyfully waited like those Bishops in that holy hour.

Some of us would no doubt be waiting for a renewal in a relationship that’s sadly gone a bit sour. Maybe some of us would be waiting for that breakthrough with our boss when we can finally feel comfortable in our role. Some of us would be waiting for an apology from someone who hurt us and the joy of new friendship. Some of us would still be waiting to ask forgiveness ourselves of someone we’ve hurt in hopes of new friendship. Some of us would be waiting for a clearer vision of our future or for the grace needed to deal with a physical malady or something as basic as a good grade on our final in Chemistry this semester. This is really what Advent should be about. There’s so much we’re waiting for…whatever it is…tell Him…He needs to know it and it needs to be at the top of your Christmas wish list this Advent.

What’s even more interesting…I think…is that while we wait for Jesus…he waits for us too. Think about all of the ridiculous behavior we exhibit…the foolish sins we commit…He never grows tired of waiting for us. He waits for us to admit that He is the answer to the questions of our lives. And so it’s not really what we’re waiting for…it’s really who we’re waiting for. That’s the great thing about God…Jesus…He’s a person…well…persons. He’s not a concept or a philosophy or a set of guidelines to life…He’s a person. Remember what Jesus asked Peter that day at Caesarea Philippi at the beginning of his ministry…who do people say that I AM. He wanted Peter to know that he was…is…a person who understands hopes…dreams…joys…successes…anxieties…fears…disappointments in life. Maybe that’s the best about God…he’s a person who knows what it’s like to live this life because he lived it himself and that gives him some credibility in our eyes for sure. This is why we tell him in our prayers what we are waiting for…and he hears us. At Christmas we will celebrate the Word made flesh…the person…the Person who spoke all that is into existence. Our real hope for Christmas then is truly coming to know and understand what the Word is saying to us in our lives. That’s what we should be waiting for during Advent. Let’s wait well…let’s wait in prayer…let’s wait in silence…let’s wait patiently.