Catholic Journal

Advent: Preparing the Way of the Lord

Once upon a time there was a kingdom in which every city, town, and village was responsible for maintaining its own streets and the nearby roads. Most of them did a good job, but there was one town in the kingdom where the roads were in terrible shape, covered with bumps and potholes—some of them quite large. Even worse, the people of the town didn’t seem to care; they made no effort to solve the problem. All this came to the attention of the king, and after inspecting the matter for himself, he decided something had to be done to shake the people out of their laziness and indifference. He ordered that a giant rock secretly be rolled onto the main road at night, right over one of the largest potholes just outside the town. The following morning the townspeople discovered this obstacle in the middle of the road. Pedestrians were able to walk around it with some difficulty, but all the carts and wagons and other traffic was blocked. Everyone grumbled and complained, but no one did anything—until finally one man, whom we’ll call John—stuck in traffic like everyone else, decided, “I’d better move that rock so that everyone can start using the road again.” He got out of his wagon, walked forward, and began pushing against the stone.

Even though it was obvious John could use some help, everyone else just watched, or laughed at his efforts, or complained that he should have done something much sooner. The stone was very big and heavy, but John was determined; he kept pushing and rocking it and improving his grip and his leverage, and finally managed to roll it off the road. Then, while catching his breath, John looked down into the hole below, and saw a leather bag there. Curious, he picked it up, opened it, and found a small fortune in gold coins and jewels; the king had ordered it left there to reward whoever happened to move away the stone (Msgr. Arthur Tonne, Stories for Sermons, Vol. 2, #26). Advent is a time for us to prepare the way of the Lord by removing any obstacles that keep Him from fully entering our hearts—and we can be sure our efforts in this regard will be richly rewarded.

One very common and popular heresy, or false religious belief, into which many Christians have fallen is the mistaken idea that once you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your “personal Lord and Savior,” you don’t have to do anything more, for your salvation is guaranteed, no matter what. This contradicts many New Testament passages, such as Jesus’ warning against hearing His words without acting upon them (Mt. 7:21), or St. Paul’s insistence that we must “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12); it also contradicts the message given in the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent, which call for our active cooperation with God’s grace. Just as the man in the story named John moved an obstacle off the road, allowing people to continue their journey, so John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-6) offered to help people move away obstacles to God’s grace by repenting of their sins; the Gospel describes him as one calling upon everyone to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths. This allows God’s plan to unfold, for as the reading from the Book of the Prophet Baruch (5:1-9) tells us, “God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground.” This must be an ongoing spiritual process in our lives; St. Paul (Phil 1:4-6, 8-11) prays that our love “may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that [we] may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. . . .”  In other words, it’s up to us to be ready to receive the gift of salvation Jesus offers.

The famous psychologist and author Carl Jung once stated that in his many years of experience as a therapist, the problems of every single one of his patients over the age of thirty-five were ultimately spiritual in nature—in other words, once we’ve outgrown our youthful concerns, all our obstacles to happiness are somehow linked to our failure to experience and respond to God’s love as deeply as we should. This makes sense because the very reason we’re on earth is to know and love the Lord—and so it’s of the utmost importance that we remove anything in our lives that hinders us in this regard.

Is our tendency to gossip or speak critically of others blocking our spiritual progress? We must beg for God’s help in forming the habit of praying for people, instead of talking about them. Is our judgmental nature or tendency toward pride keeping God’s grace from coming into our hearts? We must use the virtue of humility to get a firm grip on that rock so as to push it out of the way. Is our greed or stinginess keeping us from sharing our time, money, or material resources with others in need? We must use God’s grace to develop a grateful and generous spirit, thereby rolling that boulder off the road that leads into our hearts. Is our fear or lack of confidence anchoring us in place and making it difficult or impossible to answer God’s call? We must take one spiritual step at a time, concentrating only on doing God’s will today, and letting tomorrow worry about itself. Is our laziness or sense of entitlement causing us ignore injustices around us or think, “It’s not my problem—let someone else handle it”? We must accept responsibility, roll up our sleeves, and get busy. When we pray for others in need, strive to be humble, live in a grateful and generous manner, trust in God, and do what we can to make this a better world, we discover inner peace, a sense of purpose in life, and a sense of unity with God and our neighbor—and this is a far greater and more satisfying reward than moving a large rock and finding a sack of gold in a hole in the road. Having the proper priorities and attitudes in life is not only the secret to mental health and personal growth; far more importantly, we’ll be traveling the path of true discipleship that leads to eternal life in Heaven. The journey won’t always be an easy or enjoyable one, and sometimes there may be temporary roadblocks or detours, but those who persevere will arrive safely home—for as John the Baptist quoted the prophet Isaiah, “The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Fr Joseph Esper

REVEREND JOSEPH M. ESPER is a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit and pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Anchorville, Michigan. He received his Master of Divinity degree from St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan. Through the years, Father Joe has lectured at Marian conferences, appeared on EWTN, spoken on Catholic radio, and written more than a dozen articles for This Rock, The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and other publications. He is also the author of numerous books, including Saintly Solutions, More Saintly Solutions, After the Darkness, Lessons from the Lives of the Saints, and Why Is God Punishing Me? In addition to Amazon, many of his most recent books are available through Queenship Publishing.