Third Sunday of Advent - 2000
Who is waiting?

 Being a Catholic means being a Christian, a follower of Christ. A recent article in The Catholic New World quoted Garison Keillor: “If you think going to church makes you a Christian, you probably think sitting in a garage will make you a car.” 

The Advent season is a period of waiting. And while we wait, we often ask God to do away with poverty, injustice, and crime. We wait for God to solve the problems of the world, but God sent His Son to teach us to do it. 

We recite, in the Prayer of St Francis …
Where there is hatred, ... let me sow love;
Where there is injury, ... pardon;
Where there is doubt, ... faith;
Where there is despair, ... hope;
Where there is darkness, ... light;
And where there is sadness, ... joy.

St Francis did not say, ‘God, give me love, pardon, faith, hope, light, and joy.’ He tells us to ask God to ...make us an instrument of His Peace because …

”… it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.” 

We can claim the title of Catholic and Christian, but we are not really Christians until we are Disciples of Christ. We can improve the life of those around us, and by our example, we can change their attitudes. We must be the “Light to the World”. In this way we can do our little bit to change the world and when the time comes, God will say to us, “Well done Christian, ... Your wait is over.”

 Don Plefka