The Roman aqueduct at Segovia, Spain, was built in the first century A.D.  For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot city.  Nearly sixty generations of men and women drank from its flow.

      Then the young generation of the 19th century decided that this aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved as a monument for our children.  So, they laid iron pipes in the city.  They gave the ancient bricks and mortar aqueduct a reverent rest, relieving it from centuries-long labor.

But the aqueduct began to fall apart.  The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble.  The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall.  What centuries of service could not destroy was disintegrated in a short time by idleness.

Dear Agathians:

2020 has been a year of waiting.  At the beginning of the year, we waited with bated breath to see if the COVID-19 outbreak in China would reach our shore.  By Easter, it was a worldwide pandemic.  We then waited anxiously for the governor’s shutdown order to be lifted.

Our church reopened its doors after three long months, only to be shut down again in October due to a new surge of the virus in our neighborhood.  Thank God, it lasted only two weeks this time.  But the damage was already done.  We are still waiting for the day when all parishioners can feel safe enough to return to church.

Then, we entered one of the most contested presidential elections in recent history.  Even now, half of the country still seems to be waiting for the result.  At the same time, we join the whole world in waiting for a coronavirus vaccine.

As bad as this all seems, however, it is a perfect setting for Advent.  After all, Advent is really a waiting period.  We wait with longing hearts for the “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:5) to be our “Emmanuel, God-with-us” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23), to heal and restore us once again.

If we have learned the lessons of this year, though, we would not be waiting passively.  As the story of the Segovia aqueduct shows, idleness leads to decay, and inactivity spirals into impatience, frustration, anger, and selfishness.  As a domestic church, each family needs to make a plan of how to actively live this Advent.  Otherwise, we might once again completely miss the birth of our Savior, like the people of old.

— Fr. Vincentius Do, Pastor