Cardinal Tobin: Waiting for the blessed hope during Advent

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:11–14).

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

We pray about “waiting for the blessed hope” every day in the Mass, and in a special way during Advent. Our faith teaches us that the Lord will come again. And we’re told that his coming will be a time of great rejoicing, a time when every tear will be wiped away and all our hopes will be fulfilled. 

We believe this. It is an integral part of Christian hope. One day, the Lord will come again, and the redemption of the world (and our personal redemption) will be complete.

As a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), I have a keen awareness of this fundamental truth of our faith. The process that was initiated by God’s promise to his chosen people, the Jews, and that was realized in the fullness of time by Christ’s Incarnation and by our redemption through his passion, death and resurrection, will be brought to fulfillment on the last day. 

We wait for this day, the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment of all our hopes and dreams. 

But there are different kinds of waiting. As anyone who has been caught in a traffic jam on an Interstate knows, waiting can be frustrating. And those who have found themselves in an emergency room know that waiting can be very painful.

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