Our Work and Our Waiting

We are all familiar with the experience of feeling suddenly very sleepy. It might even have happened to you this week: after a big meal, for example; or reclining in a comfy chair; or listening to your uncle pontificate about something around the dinner table; or sitting through a long and boring sermon. Sleep is a basic human need, and sometimes drowsiness rushes upon us in an almost uncontrollable away. But there are certain times in which we *can’t* fall asleep – in which it is vitally important to stay awake. For example, a person who is driving or operating heavy machinery can't afford to fall asleep, nor can a security guard or soldier who is out on patrol, nor a college student pulling an all-nighter in order to finish a term paper. In those circumstances, sleep becomes an enemy of sorts – something that tempts us to not fulfill our task.

In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus also warns us against drowsiness: not of the body but of the spirit. He says, “Be watchful; be alert!” Elsewhere, he puts it more directly: “Stay awake!” He doesn’t literally mean that we can never lay down to sleep; rather he wants us to be on guard against the drowsiness that comes from worldliness. This Gospel, along with those we have heard the last few weeks, is ultimately a reference to the Lord’s Second Coming, when he will return at the end of time for judgment. But that raises a question: *how* are we to be watchful for such an event? What exactly are we supposed to *do*?

There’s a clue in the parable that is easy to miss. Jesus says that the Master of the house has gone away on a journey, but that he “places his servants in charge, each with his own work.” The servants attend to their labors as they await the Master’s return. What Jesus describes is the image of the Church – that is, of us, as we are now – caught up in the middle of the story, hard at work at present tasks, but awaiting eagerly his return. In other words, our work and our waiting are not opposed to each other; rather, we await Jesus’s coming precisely by attending well to the work presently before us.

Carl Spitzweg, The Night Watchman Asleep (c. 1875)

What is the “work” Jesus gives to us? It differs from person to person, but generally it is how the Lord calls us to holiness each day: 1) our devotion to him, first and foremost, by daily prayer, participation at Mass, and regular sacramental confession; 2) our fidelity to our vocations, which for most of you means your marriage, your children, and your family more broadly – to love them as Christ, to serve them as he serves the Church, and to teach and encourage them by word and example to come to love the Lord themselves; 3) our witness to the world of the truth of the Gospel, which involves everything about our lives: how we live, the goals we strive for, and especially how we attend to the poor and the needy, those with whom Jesus has a special solidarity.

The details of these vary for each of us, but broadly speaking, that is the work that Jesus has left us to do until he returns. Those tasks are not particularly extraordinary, and they are certainly not glamorous, but they are not supposed to be. It is in our daily duties – to the Lord and to each other – that we expectantly wait for the Lord’s coming. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that at times these duties become difficult, even mundane, and we in turn become lax in our attention to them. In short, we become drowsy – inattentive to our tasks and forgetful of just who has entrusted them to us while he is away.

So it is that Jesus says to us today, “Be watchful; be alert!” His words are a call to be roused from our drowsiness – not only to remember that he is coming, but to look more attentively to the work that he has given us. We have begun the season of Advent once again – a new liturgical year in the Church, and an opportunity not just to get ready for Christmas, but to apply ourselves with renewed focus and energy to the work the Lord has given to us.

Take a moment this week to consider those three tasks I mentioned earlier, what the Lord has charged us with. First, consider how Christ might be calling you to be renewed in your relationship with him. How is your relationship with God? In what ways could it be better? What could you give up to make more time for communication with him, for prayer? You’ll find in the back of church a small gift from our parish that might help you answer those questions. Second, are you being faithful to your vocation? Where is the Lord calling you to improve your love for your family, especially as a spouse or as a parent? Are you helping your family to love Jesus and his Church more deeply? Where can your love be more like the love of Christ: selfless, sacrificial, even suffering, if necessary? And finally, third, look to your witness to the world: how you spend your time, how you spend your money, what priorities you keep, and what relationships you prioritize. Ask yourself, do these things show the world that I am a serious Christian, or not? Am I living to serve the Lord, or myself?

Friends, we are all servants of the Master and to each of us he has entrusted important work until he comes again. Sleeping on the job is simply not an option, so let’s use this Advent to throw off the drowsiness that can creep in at times for all of us. We may not always have the Second Coming in the forefront of our minds, but our alertness and our attention to our daily labors – to *what* we do and *how* we do it – might make all the difference for how the Master will repay us when he returns.