Here we are! We’ve finally come to the Fourth Sunday of Advent. And we continue our meditation on the various aspects of patience. 

One unfortunate observation I’ve made in my own life, and I bet you’ve seen it at work in yours as well — is that while we might find it very difficult to be patient… we seem to have no trouble at all expecting patience from others!

For example:

We expect immediate, timely responses to every email and text we ever send out… but then we take literally forever to respond to emails and texts sent to us!

We get bothered and frustrated when the person ahead of us takes WAY TOO LONG at the self-checkout at the grocery store… but then we don’t mind taking our sweet ol’ time when it’s our turn!

We expect IMMEDIATE customer service, IMMEDIATE help, IMMEDIATE satisfaction when others are serving us… but then we hem-haw around, waste time, make excuses, and say we’ll “get around to it eventually” when we’re asked to step and serve.

We have literally NO patience at all for the rudeness, the indifference, the failures, the ineptitude, and even the honest mistakes of others… but then we demand DIVINE PATIENCE — LIMITLESS TOLERATION of our own faults and failings from the people around us: We say: “What can you expect? Nobody’s PERFECT! This is WHO I AM… Quit JUDGING ME…”

In a word, we tend to have no issue at all demanding infinite, unending patience from others… even while we are quite impatient ourselves! And we very willingly, very freely make people wait quite a while for our help, our generosity, our forgiveness, our love…

But you know who never ever does this? — The Blessed Virgin Mary.

In our gospel passage this weekend, we heard that “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.”

She went IN HASTE…As soon as Our Lady discovered the need — as soon as she noticed what was demanded of her… she set out and traveled in haste. She didn’t waste any time at all. She didn’t keep Elizabeth waiting! No! She knew that Elizabeth, who was by now extremely pregnant with St. John the Baptist, needed immediate help and support NOW… not later.

And so Mary didn’t delay! …She didn’t make Elizabeth wait.

We already saw this same loving urgency very clearly at the Annunciation — when the Angel Gabriel told Mary about her mission — that she was to be the mother of the Savior! 

Mary did not keep the Angel waiting very long at all, did she?

No! — First she asked a good, clarifying question. This is always a good practice… to ask the Lord sincere questions, not out of a spirit of skepticism, but from a place of genuine interest and discernment. 

Mary asks: “How is this going to work exactly?” — and the angel reveals to her: “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you!” And then BOOM — that was enough for Mary! She then said YES, promptly. FIAT, promptly. LET IT BE DONE UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD, promptly.

From this we learn that there ought to be a certain active urgency to our Christian response. Once we know what is expected of us… once we’ve done the work of authentic discernment, and understand what the Lord is inviting us to do… Once we’ve consulted Church teaching, entered deeply into personal prayer, and have had good discussion with people we trust… then there’s no use waiting around any longer!

Just do it… as Nike once put it so well.

“The Holy Spirit does not proceed by slow, laborious efforts” St. Ambrose tells us. He has a way of accelerating our charity — filling us with urgency… a holy hastiness!

We can see how all of this applies very easily to our practical, every day situations:

We shouldn’t keep our family and friends waiting… When it’s time to give them a call, pay them a visit, ask them how they’re doing, write them a sympathy card, have a mass intention offered for them… just do it!

We shouldn’t keep the poor, the lonely, the burdened waiting!… When it’s time to make a financial sacrifice, donate stuff we don’t need to a good cause, get out of our comfort zone and serve food to the poor… just do it!

Most of all — We shouldn’t keep the Lord waiting!!! When it’s time to pray a holy hour, when it’s time to go to mass, when it’s time to gather the whole family together for a rosary, when it’s time to go to confession, when it’s time to roll up your sleeves and really actually avoid near occasions of sin, when it’s time to take the next step in the discernment of your vocation… just do it!

Don’t keep God waiting!!!

I remember back when I was discerning the priesthood, there was a particular moment when the Lord made it quite clear, quite obvious what He wanted me to do: I KNEW that He was leading me gently — but firmly — to apply to go into the seminary. But I stalled. I kept the Lord waiting…

Now eventually I got around to it… sure. Here I am! But man… what is it that prevents us from saying “YES” right away? Why do we dilly dally?

That’s why I love St. John the Baptist so much in our gospel passage this weekend: Even from within his mother’s womb, John doesn’t keep the Lord waiting, does he? Just like Our Lady, he doesn’t waste any time at all — He doesn’t drag his feet! He does not hesitate!!!

As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, John immediately LEAPED in her womb! He’s LEAPING FOR JOY. Already he is eagerly, actively fulfilling his God-given mission of pointing out the Savior of humanity:

“There He is! Look over there!!!! Behold the Lamb of God! Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world!”

As SOON as John perceived that he was truly in Christ’s presence… he responded. He fulfilled his role as “forerunner.” He surged towards the Lord!

…He didn’t keep God waiting.

Another source of inspiration in this, I think… is St. Joseph. 

As the Litany of St Joseph calls him, he is the “Mirror of Patience” — and yet, he too is a man of prompt, urgent action. He doesn’t dilly dally around when he knows what the Lord is asking him to do. When the angel visits him in his dream saying: “Don’t be afraid to take Mary into your home as your wife,” he does it immediately. When the angel tells him: “Get up and go to Egypt,” he does it.

St. Joseph doesn’t keep the Lord waiting either!

Procrastination really is a big temptation for us, though, isn’t it? It’s so tempting to put even the most important stuff in our lives off to a later time… some distant future when we think we’ll have more time, more energy, more motivation. We say to the Lord and to the people in our lives: “Ehhhh I’ll do it later. I’ll respond later. I’ll be a good friend later. I’ll spend time with my family later. I’ll pray every day later. I’ll start being holy… tomorrow. Just… be patient with me now, God.”

What we’re really saying is: “I will love You tomorrow, Lord.” … “Tomorrow, Lord — you’ll see what I’m capable of doing for You! Tomorrow I’ll pay you twice over if you’ll only grant me this one hour today. Give me the spring and I’ll let You have the autumn. Just for today turn away Your gaze, and starting tomorrow you’ll be able to look at me all You like.”

Those words come from Hans Urs Von Balthasar’s book, “Heart of the World,” and I think they capture so perfectly our struggle with the sin of procrastination.

As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said: “God has promised us pardon if we are penitent, but not if we procrastinate.”

That scene in the Old Testament comes to mind, when the prophet Elijah asks the people: “How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” 

What happens afterward? We read that “the people did not answer him.”

They kept the Lord waiting! 

They procrastinated!

How long are we going to do this to God? How long will we put His grace to the test? Yes, He is so very patient with us — THANK GOD — but why put off till tomorrow what can be done today? Why put off holiness? Why delay our full and complete “yes” to the Lord?

Because here’s the thing, and we all know this because we’ve all experienced it: 

Procrastination actually just leads to more and more impatience doesn’t it? More and more anxiety!!! Less and less peace!

Think about it! — When we put stuff off until the last second, when we delay doing what we know full well that we ought to do… then we inevitably end up rushing around like our heads are chopped off to get it done before the time’s up!

Rather than studying all semester long… we impatiently try cramming everything into our brains the night before the final exam.

Rather than keeping our house generally more or less orderly and clean throughout the whole year, day in and day out… we impatiently declare defcon-4 when the mountain of mess becomes literally unbearable!

Rather than consistently praying 20…30 minutes every day, we try impatiently to jam our ENTIRE relationship with God into one single hour on Sunday!

This is not realistic or sustainable!

Turns out — Deliberate obedience, consistent, prompt response — little by little — to the Lord’s directives, leads (overall) to less stress, less disorder, and… actually… less impatience!

Our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews gives us our proper response… it’s the response of our Lord when He was sent to this earth, sent down into the Blessed Mother’s womb to take flesh and dwell among us… to be born on Christmas in order to redeem the whole world:

“Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”

Behold, I come, right now, to carry out Your command, Father! I’m here to do what You want… when You want it.

This is who Jesus is. This is His deepest identity:

“Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”

When we look at Him in the manger, that’s what He is saying: “Behold, I come to do Your will.” 

When we look at Him on the Cross, that’s what He is saying: “Behold, I come to do Your will.”

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas — let’s respond promptly like Jesus. Let’s respond promptly like the Blessed Virgin Mary and like St. John the Baptist, and like St. Joseph. 

Let’s resolve here and now not to keep God waiting.

“Behold… we come to do Your will, O God. Let it be done unto us according to Your word.”