IN THE JOY OF EXPECTANCY (Fr. Liubo Kurtovych )
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to follow Me. Pray for those who do not pray and do not
want peace and joy, which only the Most High can give. May your souls be united in the joy of expectancy and your
heart will be filled with peace. You will be convinced, little children, that all will be good and that God will bless all;
because the good that you give will return to you, and joy will enfold your heart because you are with God and in
God. Thank you for having responded to My call” (With Ecclesiastical approval).
The Blessed Virgin Mary walks with us and, in this grace-filled season of Advent, encourages us to pray so that we
may wait perseveringly for the peace and joy that only God can give and desires to give us.
Advent time is marked by expectancy. We live in times when people can no longer wait. Everybody wants everything
now and immediately. Nothing seems fast enough for us. We are like children who would like to pull up a planted
seedling to make it grow faster. Even before the beginning of Advent there are a lot of places and shopping malls that
are already prepared and decorated for Christmas celebrations. Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the English writer, once
wrote: “There is no more dangerous and disgusting habit than that of celebrating Christmas before it comes”.
The people of Israel had waited for the Messiah Christ for centuries and Christians also wait for the celebration of
Jesus’s birth. We have forgotten the beauty of expectancy.
Let us imagine that we are waiting for Christmas as it was in ancient times: with modesty, renunciation, fasting,
preparing our homes and arranging everything for the celebration of Christmas, attending dawn Masses and evening
prayers. Then on Christmas Eve suddenly the lights come on, the Christmas tree is decorated, church bells ring and a
Christmas carol is played. Oh, what an event it is!
Beauty is not found only in celebration. Expectancy has its own special charm, it encourages our desires and makes us
wait eagerly for what is to come. The less we are able to expect the less we are happy about what we have achieved.
Therefore this Advent it would be useful to stop and pause, to look truely into the eyes of the members of our family,
to meet others with understanding and to make time both for prayer and for our spiritual life.
Thus, the joy of Christmas will fill our hearts with true joy. To stop and to wait. This is a mystery of a profound peace
and joy.
It is important to ask yourself what we are waiting for? What does my heart yearn for? What are we waiting for
together or are we really waiting at all? When a person waits for something then he hopes for something.
Inspired by the calls and messages of Our Lady let’s awaken within ourselves the deepest desire for peace and joy for
us to experience peace that fills our hearts.
Prayer
Blessed Virgin Mary, You were a humble God’s Handmaid Who experienced great deeds God accomplished in Your
life. You experienced that nothing is impossible for God. You desire for us also to experience that God is Almighty
therefore You call us to follow You. There was a great expectancy for the Savior in Your heart and with ardent faith
and hope You waited for the moment of Jesus’s birth, the Messiah and Savior. God prepared a worthy place for His
Son’s coming in Your Heart and womb. Pray for us so that we may live this Advent and our lives with profound
expectancy keeping vigil in prayer for God to do His works within us and through us. Amen.