Being Steadfast

Dear Friends,

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we ask the great “how to” question. How do we shape and reshape our adult lives to live meaningfully with God and one another? Paul’s letter to the Romans holds up two virtues to cultivate to make this reshaping possible. They are steadfastness and encouragement.

Steadfastness means keeping on. Sometimes the word “patience” is used in place of steadfastness, but patience has a connotation of being temporary: “I am putting up with this person, this situation now – but not for long.” Patience is not as rich a word as steadfastness.

One ingredient in being steadfast is the capacity to work at seemingly impossible tasks: Smaller Ukraine holding off Russia for over 270 days of conflict; beating COVID-19; therapists working with the paralyzed to get them walking again.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah describes the peaceable kingdom through a variety of impossible images: the baby playing in the cobra’s den; the wolf and the lamb laying down together in harmony. For some, these images get dismissed as fantasy. Get real! Everyone knows a lamb in the wolf’s lair is lunch!

But look: In 1988, who would have imagined that the following year, the Berlin Wall would be torn down. In 1990, who would have thought a Black South African would be the nation’s president, or in the United States in 2009, who would have thought we would also have a Black president.

In 1991, I never thought about being an ovarian cancer survivor. That journey began for me the day after Christmas that year.

Imagining seemingly impossible things is only one aspect of living steadfast lives. The steadfast also hang on when it would be tempting to let go, cave in, walk away.

Consider these examples of steadfast love active in people we know or have heard of:

• Caring for a loved one through an acute or chronic illness
• Believing in one’s call from God when others do not
• Seeing an endpoint and working toward it when others deny the endpoint exists
• Wholeheartedly serving others who have no familial or personal claim (Think of hospice workers, or government professionals who work behind the scenes preparing for peace accords and breakthroughs.)
• Musicians and artists who see creations no one seems to cherish
• Those who work at tasks which are greater than their lives, with no expectation of seeing outcomes.

John the Baptist, the dominant figure in today’s Gospel and next week’s as well, was certainly an example of steadfast love. His vision of God’s reign led him to preach and act and he could not be dissuaded even though his words and deeds led to his death.

Being steadfast, though, is no easy thing. Some days, the vision is dim or energy wanes. It’s then that encouragement is needed. The kind word, walking alongside the person can bring an infusion of energy. You and I need to be God-reminders for the steadfast, even as others are for us.

Two further brief thoughts about being steadfast: First, we are not born steadfast. We become steadfast through practice, and we learn its meaning and value from others. Secondly, not every life situation requires that we remain steadfast. There is no virtue in continuing in a situation where life is destroyed rather than fostered. Cut loose, for the sake of life.

The Advent figures of John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph accompany us through these weeks. They encourage us in our Advent-mindedness. “Believe,” they tell us. “Believe that you are capable of being steadfast and encouraging. Believe that Emmanuel, God with Us, is indeed with us in our gloom and glory.”

~Sister Joan Sobala