​Third Sunday in Advent

James 5:7
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
 
Clearly, we associate this text with the coming of the Lord, either at the birth of the Savior or at the Second Glorious Appearing.  Taking nothing away from these interpretations, I wish to take an alternate perspective on this passage.  Let us consider the patience we must exercise as we allow the grace of the Lord, the power of the “implanted word” (James 1:21) to germinate and take root in our hearts.    The crop we wait for is indeed precious – it is very life.  Just as Jesus said, His words are life indeed, and we cannot live by anything less than the Word of the Lord.  Jesus Himself had a bread to eat that even His disciples did not yet know about.  I wonder if that bread He ate was communion with his Father in heaven?
Just as the farmer must have an early rain to germinate his crops, so too must the farmer have the later rains to allow the crop to take root, grow, and produce fruit that nourishes.  Our lives are like this in so many ways.  Jesus told us that the Word of the Lord is sown within various types and qualities of soil.  We are like the soils of the earth as well.  We must have that early seed of faith implanted within our hearts, watered by the good graces of the Lord.  That seed of faith must take root in our hearts and allowed to grow.  We must take care that the precious Word not get choked out by the cares and anxieties of the world.  As we well know, the world is full of anxieties and cares in these days that could choke out the faith of many.
The Lord tells us, speaks to our hearts this Third Sunday in Advent: Be patient.  Be patient until the Lord comes.  Be patient with the soil of your hearts, with the rainfall from heaven; be patient until the Lord is formed within you (Galatians 4:19).
May we receive this water from heaven during this Advent Season,
 
+Ken, osf