* 19th (C) Ordinary, August 8, 2010
* Theme:  Waiting For The Lord

* Introduction:
* Last Monday, when we Jesuits first read the scriptures for this Sunday – I wanted to take a pass – they seemed very difficult to understand.
* Even the Gospel parable telling of the Master coming home from a wedding feast, stripping down and waiting on the servants – Right, who would do that?
* The Scriptures have to stretch us, and these do.

* Scripture Readings: have a leitmotif of  WAITING
* 1st Reading (Wisdom), reminds us of the Chosen People after their Exodus from slavery in Egypt as they roamed the desert for forty years waiting to enter the Promised Land
* 2nd Reading (Letter to the Hebrews), reminds us of Abraham and Sarah waiting to understand how God’s promise to them to be the parents of a great people was going to be fulfilled – since both of them were way beyond child bearing age.
* Gospel (Luke), tells us of servants waiting for the Master’s return, hinting at the return of Jesus at the end of time.
* Our Faith in God should give us Hope for the Future, but it is not always clear how this Hope is to be realized – so we wait.

* The Gospel Parable gives us an orientation to look at Waiting and the Journey that is life.
* Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem
* He knows he will meet suffering and death
* He goes forth because he has hope that this journey will lead to God’s ultimate victory in Resurrection
* Luke is writing to the First Century Christians
* They had been WAITING for the immediate return of the Risen Jesus and the immediate institution of the Reign of God.
* What they were experiencing instead was terrible persecution.
* Luke quotes this parable of Jesus to encourage them so that they do not loose hope.
* These early Christians had to learn to live in this “in-between” time in which we also live.

* The word “Waiting” brings up may images
* Zorba the Greek (by Nikos Kazantzakis)
* One of the songs from the musical, “Life Is What You Do While You Are Waiting To Die.”
* Zorba, the main character, has always been an inspiration to me.  What did he do while he was “waiting”?
* In good times – he danced
* In times of despair – when their business collapsed – he dance
* When a close friend died – he danced
* His spirit was indomitable
* He was not waiting to die, he lived while he was waiting

* How do we handle “Waiting”?
* It seems like we often treat waiting as something to be ENDURED, until we get what we really want:
* As Kids:
* We wait for the school year to end so we can enjoy the summer,
* Then we will be happy
* As Adults:
* We wait until we get married,
* We wait until we have children,
* We wait until the children grow up and leave home,
* Seminarians (Jesuits) wait until they are ordained,
* Then we’ll be happy
* What we find is that none of these events really are the culmination of all our dreams:
* We still have problems
* Yet we keep on waiting for the next TOY.

* Today’s reading challenges us to look at how we Wait.
* Our Faith tells us that the Waiting has meaning in itself.
* We find that life is not a destination, but it is rather a journey
* We find that it is HOW we live the journey that gives meaning to our lives.
* I mentioned earlier that today’s Gospel parable did not make much sense – the Master waiting on his servants,
* But isn’t that exactly what Jesus did at the Last Supper.
* He took off his tunic and washed the feet of his disciples,
* A task reserved for the lowest of servants.
* Jesus gives a hint of HOW we are to live our lives while we wait.

* For us Christians,
* Waiting for Christ to return means working for the coming of the Kingdom of God:
* It means combating poverty;
* Ending the hatreds that divide us;
* Establishing peace among individuals, within families, in society, and among the nations of the world;
* Curbing the pride that causes us to become confrontational with God and with each other;
* Building social structures that respect the dignity of individual humans
* (Cf. Gerald Darring, liturgy.slu.edu)

* Story:  A good friend of mine
* A member of the Dot-com generation, out of work, feeling pretty depressed
* Keeps waiting to find the right job
* He decided that he needed to do something with his time.
* Volunteered to work with the Homeless at our Social Service Center
* Not easy work – he was feeling quite the martyr.
* One day he stopped his tasks and happened to have a long conversation with one of the clients.
* Heard a story of pain, addition, crime, but ultimate Faith in God and Hope for the Future
* My young friend has not been able to stop talking about the affect that this homeless man has had on his life.
* My friend found that there was meaning in his time of waiting

* As we continue with our Liturgy today
* Let us profess our Faith in God
* Let us acknowledge God’s love for us, a love which gives us hope for the future.
* Let us pray that our lives become journeys of excitement and discovery of God’s work in our world.

* Amen

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