“I shall go on waiting for him confidently” (Adv1:3)
Guerric opens his sermon, focusing on ‘for whom we are waiting’. The Savior, Jesus Christ, our hope, joy and all! ‘Waiting for the Lord’ is the very essential disposition of Cistercian life in every aspect. We are waiting not only for his final coming but also daily coming, since as his own, we have been falling in love with Him helplessly no matter how deep or strong, how feeble we are. We long to see and hear, to taste and smell ‘for whom our soul waits and in whom our hearts rejoice’ (Ps 33:20-21). It is our final bliss and daily bliss as well.
The initiative of coming, however, belongs to only God. This truth puts us in suspense for his return. “I shall go on waiting for him confidently” (Adv1:3). Guerric strengthens us firmly, inviting to exercise patience and to keep the troth. It is not easy to watch or to stand faithfully in life-long suspense. If we are wise, it would be an excellent time to earn every virtue, heavenly treasures, and spiritual charity for us and others, with our watchful prayer and sweat of love.
Waiting confidently is like seeking God unceasingly, as the lover in the Song of Songs; “I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil” (Sgs5:2). Her plain self-knowledge is similar to the reality of our journey of waiting that is still unready to open quickly, due to our fragility, though our heart is ready. Waiting in confidence is also rooted in deep trust in God’s intimate love. He never abandons whoever waits or thirsts for him. Indeed, He is the one who is eagerly waiting for the most timely day, for the most timely moment in each of our days.
He knocks, I say ‘daily’. “Open to me…For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the moisture of the night” (Sgs5:2). This beautiful word has strongly affected my daily waiting for the Lord since I began monastic life. It deeply reminds me of Jesus Christ, often praying alone on the mountain at night before dawn, in the dew time of cold. He was staying awake all the time until death on the cross. We follow his deepest waiting for his Heavenly Father.
We are beings willingly hanged on the cross by monastic vows. It is there, in which we are waiting for the Savior with inmost heart day and night. It is there, we hear his knocking, “Open to me, my beloved!” If we open, our whole being will be in his bosom, and be moistened with his full dew of heavenly grace, like a being simply in the unknowing cloud. This is indeed our hidden way of waiting, inviting the human race ‘to raise the hope above earthly concerns.’ (Adv1:2)
Our Savior was born to us, ‘like dew from above, like gentle rain He drops down (Is45:8)’. God is with us. Let our inmost heart be deep moistened and softened by the quiet, gentle breathing of Infant Jesus and his grace. In his wondrous Name, let us go on our journey of waiting evermore confidently in a deeper way.
