Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
He will be called John. Imagine a woman who was barren and believed she would never have a child, now pregnant. What must Elizabeth have thought? Like Mary, how can this be? After having waited for perhaps decades for a child, God gave her the gift of a son. And after all that waiting she had to wait again only this time for nine months.
Waiting...something will all must do. The word itself can conjure up some many images. Waiting in line at the checkout, waiting in traffic, waiting for Christmas morning, waiting to pop the question, waiting for a baby to be born, waiting for Godot, waiting for eternity. Why must we wait? The answer isn’t always clear, but one thing I do know is that God’s timing doesn’t always coincide with our timing. My own child knows what he is getting for Christmas. Because he thinks that he should be able to get it sooner. Of course, I am insistent that he must wait. Why must we wait? Waiting is a lesson the Lord has been teaching us from the beginning and the Lord continues to give us opportunities to practice.
A close friend of mine is waiting now in joy anticipation of his own kind. He is in God’s waiting room, expecting to be called home soon. While he has been waiting for this moment his whole life, he has not done so idly. John McGrath, a Marianist priest, has given his whole life in the service of the Lord. With Mary as his model, he has waited upon Lord with the openness of “Be it done to me according to your word.” Fr. McGrath, did everything his family, the Marianists, and the Lord asked him to do. Few people have I admired so much as him. Like the saints, Fr, McGrath modeled for me an authentic way to be a faithful disciple; for John McGrath reflected the serenity of Christ to all who knew him. Fr. McGrath, we wait with you and your family in prayer and we know that we will see you again.
This Advent season is short-lived now, yet we still have time to prepare the way of the Lord. Reflect on ways in which you could better offer your life over to the Lord. What change could you make so as to give yourself more fully to God?
Good and loving God, we praise You for the gift of Elizabeth, John the Baptist and John McGrath all of whom modeled for us what means to give their all! Help us to offer ‘all we are’ in order to prepare our hearts to joyfully receive You, who became Emmanuel so as to give it all.
-Michael Montgomery
Dedicated to Fr. John McGrath, S.M., brother, friend and surrogate father. Jack, you will be missed.