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When I was in seventh grade, my class went on a fishing trip in the North Carolina Intracoastal Waterway. It was the first time I ever speared a worm with a fishing hook, and I remember the excitement when our classmate unknowingly reeled in a pufferfish. I fished for hours and caught absolutely nothing – and that was my first and last fishing experience until earlier this month when I tagged along with my dad and brother during a family beach trip.

The ritual of the whole experience captivated me. As I mostly sat and watched, they readied the fishing rods, performing their ministrations with a skill far beyond my afternoon’s worth of experience from nearly twenty years ago.

When the rods were ready and baited, they cast their lines as far as possible to avoid the sandbar.

And then we waited.

Fishing, I learned, is a lot of waiting broken by interval checks on the line and rod.

But mostly waiting.

And as I sat in my beach chair I started to reflect on the season of Advent. 

We’re told that Advent is a season of waiting, a season of anticipation for the Incarnation, a season of preparation for the birth of the Christ child and the second coming of Christ in power. In just a few short days, we will be told at Mass to “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”

And we know this; we hear this every year. And sometimes we even manage to stay focused on the Lord amid the frenzied preparations going on around us. 

But it was there on the beach, watching my dad and brother watch their fishing rods, that I felt what it means to wait well.

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I think there are two questions we can ask ourselves during the Advent season: “What am I waiting for?” and “What am I doing while I wait?”

The answer to the first is relatively simple. Our what – our Who – is Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us. We are waiting for the One who fulfills all our deepest longings. The Divine One who became flesh in order to rescue, heal, and restore us. The Nativity scenes in our homes and churches make it clear that we know Who we’re waiting for.

Now comes the harder question – the question that we often avoid because it demands something of us.

“What do we do while we wait?”

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“How do you know if you’ve caught a fish?” I asked my dad.

“You watch the top of the rod.”

The ocean was rough that day, but there was still a rhythmic ebb and flow to the waves. My dad, brother and I watched the top of the fishing rods move up and down at regular intervals. 

“If you’re watching carefully, you’ll see a tug on the line or the top of the rod bend more than usual. When you’ve been fishing for a while, you know what to look for.” 

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The Scriptures tell us the same thing during Advent: watch, wait, prepare.

“So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." 

“In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!”

“You too must be patient.
Make your hearts firm,
because the coming of the Lord is at hand.” 

As I watched my dad and brother, I saw the kind of waiting that the Scriptures challenge us to practice.

Undivided focus: We must keep our eyes on Jesus, not allowing ourselves to be pulled in a million directions or distracted by the demands of the season. I was amazed by the way my dad’s and brother’s eyes never faltered from the rod. They knew that looking away was a risk; they might miss the cue that they needed to reel in a catch before it got away. The object of their wait was too important.

Waiting with hope: We’re not only asked to watch for the Lord, but to wait with hope. This is an anticipatory waiting, a joyful waiting, an act of trust on our part. For goodness’ sake, we are waiting for the Savior of the world! The King of the Universe and the King of our hearts! No matter the grief, discouragement, challenges, or fears that surround us, we must also hold onto hope. Time after time, the fish would make off with my dad’s and brother’s bait. And each time, they calmly reset the rod and waited again. They never lost hope that they would walk away with a catch. 

Waiting among community: It’s easy for us to exhaust ourselves with external preparations, forgetting that the important work happens when we allow ourselves to be transformed interiorly. We need to make time for community – gathering with the Body of Christ – to share our hopes and bear one another’s burdens as we await our Savior together. Hours passed as we sat on the beach – but not once did I experience boredom or feel that my time was wasted. We sat together, sometimes in silence, sometimes sharing stories and laughing, our eyes always fixed ahead. 

As we prepare for another Advent season, I invite you to ask yourself, “What am I doing while I wait?” Invite the Lord each day into your heart. Keep your eyes on Him. Watch for the signs of His presence in your life. 

It’s no wonder He sought followers among fishermen. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, who better to teach us how to watch and wait with the virtue of hope this Advent season?

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In this jubilee year, +Pope Francis invited each of us to be a pilgrim of hope. In this spirit, the Young Adult Initiative will publish monthly blogs related to the jubilee year and our role as pilgrims on the journey.