2nd Sunday of Advent: Setting Our Sights Above the Mountains

Today's Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121017.cfm

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Psalm 85

2 Peter 3: 8-14

Mark 1: 1-8

Around this time of year, the snow often begins to fall, dusting a white cap upon mountains all across the world. Our eyes are often drawn to their beauty, and we are overcome by their inconceivable heights. But just as we begin to fix our eyes on the mountains of the earth, we are also suppressed by the mountains we experience in our own lives: those tasks, responsibilities, or pressures we experience in day-to-day life.

Indeed, life many times poses challenges that seem too difficult to overcome. Many students find themselves incredibly anxious under the pressures of final exams, hundreds of employees undergo the anxieties involved in closing out a project, and families find themselves stressed in preparing for the Christmas festivities approaching. These challenges, like mountains, seem to grow far above our sights, and we become consumed by their oppression, thus falling into the dark abyss of the world. But during this Second Sunday of Advent, as we light a second candle on our Advent wreath, we are invited into the Light of Christ. Our opening Collect reveals this wisdom as we pray that "no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet [God's] Son." In other words, we are called to rise above the mountains in our lives, using the strength we gain from the Father's grace. Surely, we meek and mortal beings do not have the power to crush the problems in our lives; only God can truly lift us from our burdens. We thus find hope in this knowledge through our First Reading from Isaiah: "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low" (Isaiah 40:4).

In this way, Jesus lovingly invites us to wipe away all of that which the Earth presses onto us so that we can instead look up and see the face of God in full. This, of course, takes an immense amount of trust...it's not so easy to give up your burdens, especially in times of great stress. But the good news is that God is patient with us: He knows our limitations. For "with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day" (2 Peter 3:8). In this way, God's mercy and love is infinite, and endures throughout all of time, because time, in God's eyes, is nonexistent.

Today, we are invited to realize that eventually, all will pass away, the Earth will fade, and all that will endure is God's Kingdom, and His loving relationship with each of us. So we see: the mountains we face, the pressures and expectations of this world, and even the relationships we hold with those closest to our hearts will all pass away. Truly, we take one thing and one thing only with us at the end of time: our relationship with Jesus. Let us then start growing that connection with the Father in this present age, so that we are then ready when all "will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out" (2 Peter 3:10).

On this Second Sunday of Advent, let us brush off the world from our shoulders like snow swept off a mountaintop. That way, we will be fully opened and accepting to the Spirit coming into our hearts, and thus find ourselves prepared for not only this Christmas, but for the coming of our Lord and Lover at the end of time!

"Almighty and merciful God,

may no earthly undertaking hinder those

who set out in haste to meet your Son,

but may our learning of heavenly wisdom

gain us admittance to his company.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

~Collect from the Second Sunday of Advent