The Waiting Room Clock
Updated: Sep 5
“In these lay a multitude of invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed.”John 5:3
In a waiting room the clock seems slower than it is at home. It is the same kind of clock. The hands move in the same way. But you notice every minute.
You may be waiting for a doctor, a result, a name to be called, or news that will change the day. Other people in the room are waiting too. No one can make the time go faster.
The Gospel shows us a place like this. By a pool in Jerusalem there were many sick people. Some of them had been waiting for years. They hoped for healing. They hoped someone would help them. Time passed, and many of them were still there.
Jesus came to that place. He did not wait only for the happy ending. He came while people were still waiting. He also waited outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus. He knows what long waiting feels like.
A waiting room clock does not make the waiting easier. It only shows how much time has gone by, and how much has not happened yet. That can feel heavy. Waiting for healing is hard. Waiting for an answer is hard. Waiting for a decision, or for help, is hard. You do not have to pretend that it is not.
You also do not have to stare at the clock. You can sit. You can pray in a simple way. You can let the hour be what it is.
The Church knows this kind of time. Before Christmas we keep Advent. That is a season of waiting for Christ. At Mass we also wait. We listen to God’s Word. Then we wait to receive Holy Communion. We cannot rush that moment. We receive him when he is given.
This is the heart of it: Jesus does not meet us only when the waiting is over. He is with us while we are still sitting there.
The clock keeps moving. You can keep going too, one minute at a time, until the waiting ends.