As we light the second Advent candle today, we hear the famous cry of Isaiah echoed by John the Baptist: \u201cPrepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tA highway or path, as we know, is a route that lets us go quickly from Point A to Point B. Back in the old days, highways were either built on land as roads that were relatively flat or were rivers that allowed for barges and boats to use. But as we know from experience, the best highways are those that are straight, where we can see what lies ahead and, as such, go as fast as we can. If the highway is curved, we need to be careful lest we crash and burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd that\u2019s the question, isn\u2019t it? When John the Baptist echoes Isaiah\u2019s words, he isn\u2019t talking about a physical or geographic highway. He\u2019s talking about the highway of our hearts. Are our hearts straight and level so that the Lord God can speedily and eagerly come to us? Or are our hearts full of twists and turns that can make it hard for us to receive him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIndeed, the \u201cway of the Lord\u201d implies that our hearts belong to the Lord God. It is his road. It is his highway, his way to get to us. But we ourselves cannot change our twisted hearts into straight roads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThat\u2019s why Jesus Christ came to us. John the Baptist says that \u201cone mightier than I is coming after me [and] he will baptize with the Holy Spirit.\u201d Jesus comes to us not only at Christmas two thousand years ago, and not only in the future, but today and every moment of our lives. He comes to immerse us in the Holy Spirit so that our hearts may be highways for our God where his grace and presence may descend upon us easily and speedily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIn this time of pandemic, we can be impatient. We can be exhausted by the burdens of hearing bad news or of being far from the sacraments, and so be tempted to give up the faith, thinking that God neither hears us nor will come. But take heart. The Second Reading tells us, \u201cThe Lord does not delay his promise\u201d but wants all to \u201ccome to repentance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have no control over this pandemic, but we do have control over how we react. We can either let these worries and woes bend our hearts away from God and towards other things, or we can ask for the grace for the Lord Jesus, who lives in Mary, to live in us as well. For Jesus wants to live in us today if only we invite him to prepare his way to our hearts, hearts that are ready to repent and be the exclusive highway of our God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joseph\nYuson <\/strong>\u2013 St. Joseph\nSeminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. <\/em>Richard Greif \/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n An Advent Reflection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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