12/11/20 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: First Graders at our outdoor creche.

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family:

One of my favorite plays is by Samuel Beckett. Waiting for Godot is an existential drama that involves two men named Didi and Gogo on a stage waiting for a man named Godot to appear. As the play progresses it is clear that they are not sure who he is or why they are waiting for him but they know they must wait.

They pass the time with word play and grumbling about food and each other. At one point two other men, Potso and Lucky, come by and they think one of them might be Godot. But neither one is.

At the end of the first act a young boy comes and tells them that Godot can not come today but will surely come tomorrow. They are despondent.

The second act opens as the two men wait. They see Posto and Lucky again but they don’t remember Didi and Gogo. At the end of the act the same young boy (although he claims that it was his brother who came yesterday) repeats the same thing. Godot can’t come today but will surely come tomorrow.

It’s not exactly a Disney musical is it? For me, it sums up what so many people do their entire lives. They wait for something in the future, although none of are sure or for that matter are guaranteed a future. Like Didi and Gogo we waste a lot of time that we could be enjoying what we have, the present, as we wait for something to come.

It’s okay to dream of course about an upcoming event. Christmas vacation, an upcoming event like a wedding, the day we can retire. But if we focus only on what might come we can miss a lot of what is around us now.

We are halfway through the season of Advent which is a time of waiting for the birth of the Christ child. For us it is a symbolic and spiritual birth as we know that Christ has already been born of Man, lived His brief life and died on the cross for us. It is also a yearly reminder to us that one day, hopefully, we will be reunited with God face to face when we are called home.

 The things in life that are important to us have us preparing while we wait. My son, Stephen, is a senior in high school. He has applied to six colleges and has only heard from one. Every day he checks the mail to see if a college will offer him a spot. In the mean time, with prodding from his mother, he must still study and do homework during these last months of high school. Even if he is offered a spot in all six schools none of them will actually let him come without his high school diploma.

In Waiting for Godot Didi and Gogo do nothing. They waste time. They don’t even know why they are waiting. They make no efforts to go and seek Godot. They are depressingly content to sit and wait because a young boy has told them that Godot is coming. The play hints that they will wait forever and that Godot will never actually come.

We who are believers know that God is real. Advent is a time to prepare for our reunion with Him. If we knew that a week from next Saturday Pope Francis was coming to our house for dinner we wouldn’t just sit and do nothing. We’d clean our house and make preparations for the dinner that we would serve. We’d be anxious for the day to arrive but we would keep busy during that time leading up to the visit.

Advent is a special time of the year to ask ourselves if we are ready to be with God in our hearts and eventually in a reunion with Him face to face. As we keep busy decorating the house and buying the presents let us spend just as much time preparing for the only thing that in the end is worth waiting for and is guaranteed: our passing from this earthly and temporary life to a life of eternity.

Jim Silcott