Expectation

> Waiting Advent 2009
What are we waiting for?

This is the time of St Nicolas, Santa Claus, especially for Children, but also for all of us, of looking forward to gifts, to things we like to have, like good food, holiday, Christmas-cards, rest or relaxation; Things we may throw away again, but also things we like to keep for life, like respect, acceptance, meaning, happiness and love.
In Advent time we expect justice and liberty.
As Christians we have a deep-rooted expectation, not only at the period before Christmas but for all the days of life.
This expectingful life does depend on the fact that life itself smiles at us. Yet, a Christian lives his/her faith in a creating God who cares for this world. God loved so much our people that He visited us in Jesus Christ. His birth was the entrance of God into the history of Israel and His appearance created in the hearts of early Christians an intense expectation of the future. His life, but surely his death on the cross followed by his resurrection on Easter morning, holds the promise in a future that is safe in Gods hand.

This expectation is not always easy. There is a stream of daily worries that may suppress the longing for better things and may change it into an attitude of passivity. Are we really looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice rules? Will that fragile child in the manger really
liberate us and give equality for all people, races and cultures?


We may need a silent retreat when we lay aside our daily preoccupation and become more attentive to the self-communicating of the Spirit.

On Sunday 22 November I went to the 30th anniversary of the Mary Potter Hospice which invited me because I donated to it the proceeds of the sale of a number of my paintings at two exhibitions.
Mary Potter Hospice was the first hospice in New Zealand and it opened in 1979 at Calvery Hospital in Wellington by the Little Company of Mary. In February 1988, the little Company gifted the Hospice to the people of Wellington. While the name of Mary Potter lives on, the Hospice is now an independent Hospice Foundation Board of Trustees on behalf of the people of Wellington.

When I arrived for the anniversary celebration I gifted one of my paintings, a winter scene Holland. Most of the patients are now in the winter season of their lives. They expect relief of their suffering and a dignified end to their lives. The touch of the caregivers, mainly volunteers, becomes a blessing. The helpers’ hearts and hands, their compassion and skills build for the ones in need a better world. This whole encounter challenges us on many levels beyond just the physical aspects of care giving. We become the reply of their expectation; we become the fulfillment of their hopes.

The stain glass window in the chapel became an inspiration for another painting. The lines and the colours illustrate the journey of the patients’ lives where the little boat is drawn toward the setting sun, knowing that the life here-after will be the fulfillment of all their hopes and expectations in Christ.

Fr John Heijnen Advent 2009