Father Wilson's Bulletin Article

Waiting rooms don’t usually inspire great anticipation. However, they are important for being prepared, looking back, seeing the future, and living in the moment. 

 

People who have the opportunity to celebrate daily Mass with Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict are escorted to a large antechamber, or waiting room (that holds about 20 people), just outside the Pope’s small, private chapel at the Vatican. It is a time of both nervousness and great anticipation as guests waited to enter the Vicar of Christ's daily prayer routine. The waiting room is crucial in preparing for the encounter of a lifetime.

 

Along with a few others from All Saints, I attended Monday night’s induction of Joe Mauer into the Catholic Athletic Association (CAA) Hall of Fame. (Joe, along with Hill-Murray and University of Minnesota alumna and hockey gold medalist Hannah Brandt, were voted the “athletes of the last 25 years” by the CAA, a mostly St. Paul-based association that also includes other non-public grade schools.) 

 

The evening honored Joe, Hannah, and others who have served faithfully over a long period of time, but it was also a reminder of the importance of waiting rooms in different capacities. As both talked about their gratitude for those who coached them and the great memories of playing with their classmates and neighbors, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the waiting rooms that are necessary for us. The world-class athletes needed a waiting and preparation room for what they would experience in their futures. Both understood that they could not have done it without the fullness of their preparation athletically, spiritually, and communally. 

 

Our waiting rooms are peppered with people who love us, help us through the moment, and prepare us for the future. The waiting room is necessary for us to be ready for the future. It is not a place to sit idle but an opportunity to get ready and be ready for what God has in store for us.

 

With the intensity and challenges of modern life, we run the risk of forgetting the importance of the waiting room for things more important than sports. The sadness of modern religiosity is that many people don’t think they need preparation for Heaven. We do. The waiting rooms for Heaven are not meant to be places of just sitting but taking advantage of the time to get ready. Whether we are preparing ourselves or helping prepare others, we need to take advantage and be grateful for the waiting room.

 

Both of those honored looked back at the importance of the people who made up their waiting rooms, but if they were typical, they may not have appreciated them fully at the time. Waiting rooms are essential. In this holy season of Easter, let’s enter our waiting rooms with great anticipation of what will come and use them as intended.