W A I T I N G !

I know very few people who like to… WAIT.
In general people do not like delays, postponements, adjournments.
Of course, this can mean a pause, a rest, but this is not what we want.
We are a generation where not only business but busy-ness is the order of the day!

But, if we think about it, a promise involves precisely this: waiting…
Being promised something means that we have to wait for it.
The realization of the promise will come later, it is to come true… in the future.
We will get what has been promised after a certain time, a period possibly unknown, unspecified.

And, this is true of… God’s promises!
We just do not see yet that they can come true… that they WILL come true…
We have to believe that they will.

Writing these words, I come back to the gospel of this Sunday (Jn.11:1-45).
 
“The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
“If you believe, you will see the glory of God.”
 
WILL live, WILL see, WILL never die – it is all to take place in the future,
it has definitely the form of a promise.

But the the wonderful thing is that the promises of God are… reality-in-the-making!
They are blessings-being-REALised!
 
As he was about to raise Lazarus, Jesus told his Father:
“I knew that you always hear me.”
 
FAITH should enable us to say the same… even while waiting…

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a somewhat different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-du-careme-annee-a-2020/

Source: Images: Unsplash