I am going slowly
because I am in a hurry
Brazilian saying
Let’s wait a little
to finish sooner
English proverb
In This Chapter
Waiting in calm is often a preparation. It forces us to have the object of our yearnings before our eyes for a long while, preparing us for when they are fulfilled.
It is also a maturation often done by desire. Longing for something for a long time makes us worthy of possessing it. Therefore, Holy Scripture shows the Prophet Daniel as a desideriorum vir—a man of desires.
He who waits with impatience or agitation is mistaken. Knowing to wait calmly is a manifestation of common sense and wisdom.
The Prophet Daniel in the den with the lions
How to Face the Wait
People today are very accustomed to rushing everything and suppressing waiting times. This is understandable to some extent because waiting appears to hinder the natural course of things. Although this fight against waiting has something natural, it is also excessive, and you lose the benefits of waiting to people’s maturation and formation.
For example, today, an individual takes a plane and arrives in Europe in a few hours after flying over the immense Atlantic Ocean. He moves on to another world, civilization, and life with one leap. In the old days, you would board a ship, and only after 15 days was your country of origin left behind. During that time, the person prepared his mind to enter another country. He took guides and books, read about the destination country, prepared himself and forgot a bit about the customs of his country of origin. That delay caused a maturation. Today, a passenger enters a tube, and a few hours later, the tube ejects him elsewhere without a healthy transition.
Set (18th century) depicting St. Anne, St. Joachim and Our Lady child, in the church of the Trinità (in the city of Castelbuono, Italy). Source: wikipedia.
Benefits of Waiting
Waiting is often a preparation, a maturation frequently done through desire, for when a person yearns for something for a long while, he gradually becomes worthy of that something.
For example, Our Lady’s parents, St. Joachim and St. Ana, were old and beyond child-bearing age. However, it was in this situation that Our Lady was miraculously born. They had a revelation that they would beget the mother of the Messias and spent years and years waiting. Thus, they prepared themselves at length to receive Our Lady. They would have prepared much less if the mother of the Messiah were born as soon as they were married.
Scripture also tells us about other long waits, which are often against the impossible. The Old and New Testaments contain astounding accounts of such waits. People hope against all hope, and finally, after waiting, everything works out.
Statue of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome, in the Basilica of the same name
Our Lord’s Drama with the Apostles
People think little about the history of the Apostles. While Our Lord prepared them to be what they were, numerous vicissitudes intervened in executing the divine plan. Suffice it to see that one of the twelve apostles betrays and departs; in the Garden of Olives, He is alone, precisely the one He chose as the head of His Church denies Him. St. John, who at the Last Supper had heard the pulsating Heart of Jesus, was seized by his robe, disengaged himself from it and ran away naked to escape.[1] In other words, everything seemed to go wrong, and the waiting was full of disappointments and setbacks.
Our Lord resurrects and summons the Apostles; they reconvert, and everything becomes promising. The apostolate begins around the world, initially with good results. Some cities convert, and in the Holy Land, some families. Then the apostolate slows down a bit, people trickling in from here and there. But shortly afterward, St. Paul, a former Pharisee who persecuted Christians, converts and brings in almost the whole population of the Mediterranean basin practically alone. This was the result of the mission and work of the Apostles.
How much disappointment, what a long wait. But at the end of so much disappointment, endured with desire and hope, was the certainty that the Church would rise, as it eventually did. We must recognize the beauty of this, which speaks for itself. It is a true wonder. Jesus often requires a long wait from those who desire something from Him.
Modernity without Maturation
Waiting patiently does not conform to modern habits. Today, every form of waiting is frowned upon. Every form of maturity, reflection, and meditation is withering, and the lack of waiting may be one of the causes of this gap. Countries where people run the most and wait the least are the ones where they think the least. That is why today you do not find great sages like those of old—Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Thomas. The benefit of waiting is the advantage of maturation.
What is the beauty of waiting? What happens to a human soul when it waits for a good thing? Metaphorically, it can be said that the person “generates” what he expects. When he really wants something, man plans a way to obtain it. By dint of planning, he ends up resembling what he planned. Finally, he can get what he wants.
Columbus’ Example
Waiting makes navigation beautiful. We can see this in the story of America’s discovery. Columbus boarded those three little ships from Barcelona , thinking he was going to India or China. He had no idea he would find this most fertile landmass, America.
Imagine that the story was different, something like this: “Columbus was very favored because that year, for reasons which the scientists discovered later, he only had to sail 12 days from Barcelona to a Caribbean island, where he landed. The trip was easy, simple and fast. They arrived, discovered America, and took possession of it.” Is there any epic and heroic aspect here?
On the contrary, their navigation did not seem to end. The sailors revolted against Columbus and even doubted they might ever arrive anywhere. In that case, they would be lost and would eventually run out of drinking water and die. Finally, they see pieces of vegetation floating in the sea, a sign that land is near. All are reconciled, become friends again and turn enchanted to the land. This is a much more beautiful event because they had to wait. Not only did they wait, they hoped against all hope. They struggled to get there, suffered and risked their lives.
The Promise and the Waiting
Waiting is even more beautiful when it involves a miracle. Why? Because one sees in the miracle the hands of God and Our Lady. As it were, the hand of God pierces the clouds and gives what man desires. He promises and then fulfills, but He does it sometimes after many difficulties.
The episode of Abraham with Isaac is beautiful. God had promised Abraham a son. He waited a long time, and his son finally came when he was old. The boy Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. But some time later, God asks him to sacrifice his son in His honor. Abraham could have argued:
“But Lord, what about your promise?” Will you take away the son you gave me to be the ancestor of the Messias so he dies without begetting? Are you not mocking the hope you instilled in my weak heart?”
But Abraham neither hesitates nor argues. He takes the boy to a hilltop, ready to sacrifice him. Being an order of God, it was not murder, for God disposes of men. With the help of his son, Abraham builds the altar to kill him. The boy asks:
“Father, here is the altar, but where is the victim?”
He orders his son to lie on the altar, indicating that he is the victim. As docile as his father, the boy lies down. Abraham takes the knife and is about to brandish a blow to kill the boy, but at the last moment, an angel appears and interrupts him:
“No! Stop! God was testing you. He wanted to see how far your obedience would go. In consideration of your obedience, your hope and discipline, your offspring will be more numerous than the sands of the seas and the stars of the sky![2]
The question becomes even more refined. While Abraham knew the Messias would be born from his descendants, the patriarch had no idea that He would be the Incarnate Second Person of the Holy Trinity. What happened was infinitely greater than he expected: The very Word of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us.
God incarnated in the Jewish race, thus giving Abraham, the depositary of the promise to the Jewish people, a reward of incomparable plenitude. Not only would his offspring be more numerous than the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky, but it would be qualitatively more significant by including the Son of God.
When the Messias is born, people are so rotten that they reject Him and kill Him. But there is still hope: God promised His love to the people of Israel and that they would convert at the end of time. The world will not end without the people of Israel converting. The promise will eventually come true.
The story of God’s relationship with the Jewish people opens with a tremendous test and ends with a sweet reconciliation. Wait, wait and wait … And it finally works out. Blessed are those who waited. Theirs was the promise; theirs is the victory![3]
Notes:
[1] Mk 14:52.
[2] Cf. Gn 22:17.
[3] This chapter was taken from a lecture on 7-3-88 except when noted.