Let God Prepare the Way: Homily for Sunday, December 8, 2024

Life is hard. And often we can try to do it all ourselves. But if we let God prepare the way, we come to learn how much we are loved, that we are not alone, and that God loves us more than we can ever know. Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.

Let God Prepare the Way

When I was in seminary college, one of the traditions we had where I was, was each fall to climb one of the mountains of the Adirondacks, which is in upstate New York. One year, and they picked a different one each year, and one year, the mountain that was picked the year I went was Whiteface, which is one of the tallest mountains in the Adirondacks.

You may have heard of it because it’s in Lake Placid, and it is the mountain that was used in the Winter Olympics in 1936, and again in 19, not 30, yeah, maybe 36, I don’t know, somewhere in that period of time, and 1980. Anyway, we started climbing, and I have to say that I’m not really schooled in hiking.

I mean, I’ve done it, and I did it on this day, but it was a long hike, longer than I fully realized. And we hiked and hiked, but eventually, you could see the top of the mountain, and that gave hope.

You could see it in the distance, and you could see that you were getting closer. Until you realized that what you were getting closer to was what was known as the false peak. And when you got there, the actual peak seemed no closer to me than it was when we started. It was so deflating.

But on we went, and eventually, we made the top of the mountain. And the view was beautiful, and we could see the little peg that the U.S. Geological Society puts into places to identify its elevation and its location.

And then we saw the women and men at the top of the mountain who clearly were not dressed for hiking. And that’s because on the opposite side of the mountain, you could simply get in your car and drive to the top.

Now, in a way, I think that’s what John the Baptist is getting at, because really, isn’t our life sometimes the choice between looking for the pathway to God that’s like driving up to the peak? And in the other way, the hard work of opening ourselves to God so that our sins may be forgiven.

John talks about in the gospel, the need to level mountains and fill in valleys. And we know that often our lives are lives where there are seemingly high, wonderful experiences like the Transfiguration, and quite difficult low moments in our life like the valleys. And when we face either, the temptation is somehow to think that we’ve done this by our own effort. We found some easy pathway to make this happen.

But as the Buddhists remind us when they state at the very beginning of their quest for fulfillment, that life is suffering, they hit on something that’s really true. I don’t need to point out to you that sometimes life can be quite miserable.

A loved one dies. I think of parents who have to bury their children. The person goes to the doctor and winds up with an unexpected diagnosis of a terminal illness. Broken relationships that we had placed our hope in, but they have fallen apart. The real suffering that some parents have when their adult children don’t practice the faith.

The state of the world. You know, what’s interesting is if we look at all of the sources of significant conflict, we recognize that our attention is often only drawn to a few. The Middle East, Ukraine. But consider the absolute anarchy that is a part of Haiti. The fighting that is occurring in places like Sudan. Civil wars that are occurring in other parts. The recent increase in violence in Syria. And on and on.

But Advent is a time for expectant waiting. And that’s why we must resist the temptation of driving to the top of the mountain ourselves. But rather to open our hearts and our eyes so that we might experience where God is with us in what we do and in who we are. Because the peak that we’re looking for is higher than anything we can imagine.

It is, in fact, the very coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in glory. This Advent season, I think part of what we are encouraged to do is, first of all, to acknowledge who we are. Sinners in need of the saving and redemption of Jesus.

But then secondly, to acknowledge that Jesus wants something more for us than we can possibly imagine. As one song by the musical artist Michael Card says, “The people of Israel realized that their wildest dreams weren’t wild enough.”

In fact, we are given and held out before us by Jesus the gift of salvation. That even though we of our own efforts cannot forgive our sins or find ourselves open or receive the gift of salvation, God can. God can.

We are not alone. We have one another that I think is so beautifully evident in this parish community. The support, the love, the care, the concern that we have for each other. And the reminder that Jesus gives us each and every day. That Jesus is always with us, standing ready to forgive our sins. Reminding us that he is there as a support and that he loves us in the midst of our suffering and difficulties and evil. During this Advent season, take up the work of John and help people to realize that you too are working to level mountains and fill in valleys.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

About Author