And So We Wait

Courtney Vallejo ponders the waiting we have done during 2020 and its parallels to the season of Advent.

2020 has been a year of waiting. We waited to see what would happen with Covid. We waited to see if they would shut down towns, and then waited to see when or if they would reopen them. We’ve waited for churches to reopen. Some waited for schools to reopen. Let’s be honest, we waited for the hair salons to reopen. So many waited to see if their businesses would survive or if they’d be let go during this economic struggle.

I feel like we’ve been living a mix of Advent and Lent since March. But now, during Advent, we wait for the best gift of all! We wait for that sweet baby to be placed in the Manger. We wait for Our Lord.

In our house, we set up our nativities on the first Sunday of Advent this year. However we always leave one thing until Christmas day, we always leave the Baby Jesus out. On Christmas morning, before our kids open presents, we wander through the house and put all the baby Jesuses into their managers. (I always worry I’ll forget where I put all the figurines. This year, they’re sitting in a chili pepper shaped serving bowl in the cupboard).

As I write this article, I’m waiting for my newest nephew to be born! It’s hard enough being the auntie who is waiting, sometimes I forget it’s harder to be the mommy waiting to hold her newborn. Someday soon, he’ll be with my sister and all will be well with the world!

This year, I think everyone is waiting for joy, waiting with hope for change, waiting for safety and security. Like my little nephew who is waiting to be held by his mother, he’s waiting to be wrapped up and snuggled and protected by her. I think it’s easy in the chaos of this year to forget that we are being held and protected and even snuggled by our Heavenly Father and our Mother Mary! Through whatever storms this year has brought and whatever uncertainties we’ve faced, we know for sure that God has been with us and will continue to be with us through it all.

So, yes, we’re still waiting for Jesus to come as a baby at Christmas, and yes, we are still waiting for Him to return again someday. There will always be waiting, it’s nothing new to human life. Let’s just take a quiet moment in the waiting to remember that the wait will come to an end someday, but that His peace and love and compassion are available to us right now. If we allow His peace into our hearts, waiting for everything else will be much more bearable.

What are you waiting for today? What are you hoping for during this Christmas time? Let’s take those requests to Our heavenly Father and ask Mother Mary to intercede on our behalf. During this monumental year of St. Joseph, let us reach out to him as well. He was entrusted by God to keep Jesus safe from Herod and to protect and raise the son of God. A regular human just like us, who we can look to as the role model for our domestic churches.

Maybe as you wait for Christmas this year, you’ll join me in the Consecration to St. Joseph. Our family is beginning on December 22 and will end on the Feast of the Holy Spouses, January 23: a very unknown feast day to most, but a perfect example for our own marriages.

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What are you waiting for today? What are you hoping for during this Christmas time? #catholicmom

Waiting is hard and grueling and can drive those of us who enjoy control just nutty, but waiting builds endurance and as we read in Romans 5: 3-5 “Not only that, but even boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

God will come; the waiting will end. let us pray that He finds us ready and waiting for Him.