This is the second article in our "Spiritual Renewal in Advent" series. Look for the other articles on each Sunday of the Advent Season. 

Overcoming Our Mountains and Filling Our Valleys

Dear Friend, 

If you’ve been attentive to the Season of Advent over the years, you’ll know that the Prophet Isaiah figures largely in the Church’s Advent readings. Isaiah gave the people of Israel a vision of the Kingdom of God centuries before the coming of Christ. 

So it is not surprising that another prophet, John the Baptist, found his whole identity in the words of Isaiah. John was quoting Isaiah when he called himself “a voice crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord!” 

Isaiah saw from a distance what John saw directly before his eyes: Israel’s salvation was at hand. But, as we know, it was not a message that was easily accepted. Only those who were spiritually pure could see it, so John had no other choice but to tell them, fervently: Prepare yourselves!

Advent is a time of inner preparation and renewal. It’s a time to prepare a pathway, a highway, for the One who is much mightier than even the great John the Baptist. And that pathway runs right through the human soul.

How are we to make these spiritual preparations? Well, again, Isaiah provides the answer: “Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill be made low” so that the Lord’s grace can enter our lives in new ways. But often we put barriers to Christ that must be cleared out for grace to have its effect. 

Let’s start with leveling our mountains of pride: Advent is a time to overcome selfish tendencies and find ways to be more generous. But note: This kind of generosity does not require buying more Christmas presents! You would miss the message entirely if you thought that God was asking for a material response to His call.

It means being humbler and giving to others more generously on a daily basis in a way people really need, not in a way we want them to need. It’s a time to stop nitpicking and complaining and let the non-essential issues go. It’s a time to let the other person get the last word and not hold on to resentments. 

With John we can say: “He must increase, I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). In other words: Christ must be the center of my world, not me.

Then we need to address our valleys of neglect: We all know what parts of our duty we should be doing, or doing better, but are avoiding for some reason or another. 

Certain responsibilities are part of our vocations, our family life, and our jobs. We need to address these obligations with much greater diligence if we are to pave a clear and wide path of entrance to the Lord into our hearts. It’s not that everything in our lives has the same weight of obligation, but it is important to be clear about what is the essence of our own calling from the Lord. 

These little (or large) negligences in meeting our obligations are the valleys that need to be filled in during Advent. Our vocations are His way of sanctifying us, and we can only be truly holy, and for that matter fully human, if we accomplish all our duties out of love for Him and others. 

It’s not easy to have prophets like Isaiah and John the Baptist around who challenge us to live the fundamentals of our faith more deeply, but that is why they are gifts to us. The King came once in history as a Baby. He will be coming again at the end of time as a conquering Hero. 

In the meantime, He comes to each of us spiritually, so it’s time to level mountains and fill in valleys and “make straight the way of the Lord” into our hearts this Advent season!

Yours gratefully in Christ,

Thomas J. McKenna

Founder and President

Catholic Action for Faith and Family

https://www.catholicaction.org/

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