Pope Francis delivers his message as Rome mayor Virginia Raggi stands by at the Column of the Virgin Mary during the annual feast of the Immaculate Conception at Piazza di Spagna in Rome on Dec. 8. (Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
One of the symptoms of our current age of instant communications is that people are no longer capable of waiting. For anything. We want everything right now or – truth be told – yesterday.
The month-long (more or less) season of Advent — with its focus on hopeful waiting and patient preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ — is an antidote to this seductive gravitation towards impatience.
At least, it used to be. Not anymore. And not even at the Vatican, where — of all places — one might expect to find the true meaning of Advent.
