Raised Valleys and Lowered Mountains:
The First Sunday in Advent 2024
December 8, 2024
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Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126; Philippians 1:4-11; Luke 3:1-6
John the Baptist reveals God’s promise mentioned by the prophet Baruch, that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level the ground. The way to return to God has been made easier, and the light of God will lead us to our rightful home. We can know that God is clearing the path forward and working to save us, and God’s glory will shine through our hearts and actions. This Gospel is told so that we can see God entered into human history to show us that God knows our daily struggles and hopes. God entered into human time to give us a savior, so we know we are never, ever alone. In Advent, we celebrate that promise of salvation that is freely and continuously offered.
It can be confusing to find the most genuine, loving way forward in today’s world that is marked by consumerism, instant connectivity, selfish concerns, and great loneliness. Jesus spoke about his lament, his sadness, because Israel did not know its redemption was at hand. His great love for humanity was met with ingratitude and indifference. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, named selfishness as the greatest sin because it takes one away from being grateful. Even the Church needs the love of Jesus to reanimate it, otherwise, it risks being replaced with outdated structures and concerns, excessive attachment to one’s ideas and opinions, and fanaticism.
Today, Jesus is not indifferent to the way we respond to his love. Only the love of Christ can set us free from a mad pursuit of those transient things we seek in life that gradually pull us away from his gratuitous love. Christ’s love is that which can lower the mountains and raise up the valleys; He is the one who can revive love wherever we think the ability to love has been definitively lost. His love is the ultimate answer. It is God’s gratuitous love that we hear about time and again in the Old Testament that liberates, enlivens, builds community, and brings joy to the heart. We cannot be indifferent to this invitation; We cannot be deaf to the call.
My prayer is that everyone can make Saint Paul’s prayer their own. He writes, “I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus, and this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more.” That’s my prayer for you too. I wish many could know in the depths of their hearts this prayer.
Love brings us into community because love of God naturally includes love of neighbor. We can cooperate in restoring goodness and beauty to the world by recognizing this creative, life-giving, joyful promise. As we mature in prayer, our prayer becomes simpler and deeper, grounded in adoration and wonder in the presence of God. We can marvel at the ways God makes the paths straight and shows us the way. Only the love of God can bring about a new humanity, a new future, a new hope.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Genesis 3) After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself."
Tuesday: (Isaiah 40) Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.
Wednesday: (Isaiah 40) Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.
Thursday: (Zechariah 2) Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you
Friday (Isaiah 48) I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.
Saturday (Sirach 48) In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits.
Gospel:
Monday: (Luke 1) "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age.
Tuesday: (Matthew 18) What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
Wednesday (Matthew 11) Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.
Thursday (Luke 1) The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Friday (Matthew 11) To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.'
Saturday (Matthew 17) As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things.
Saints of the Week
December 8: The Immaculate Conception of Mary is celebrated today, which is nine months before her birth in September. The Immaculate Conception prepares her to become the mother of the Lord. Scripture tells of the annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel. Mary's assent to be open to God's plan makes our salvation possible.
December 9: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) was a poor, simple, indigenous man who was visited by Mary in 1531. She instructed him to build a church at Guadalupe near Mexico City. During another visit, she told him to present flowers to the bishop. When he did, the flowers fell from his cape to reveal an image of Mary that is still revered today.
December 12: The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated to remember the four apparitions to Juan Diego in 1531 near Mexico City shortly after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. Mary appeared as a native Mexican princess and her image is imprinted on a cloak that was presented to the bishop.
December 13: Lucy, martyr (d. 304), was born into a noble Sicilian family and killed during the Diocletian persecution. In the Middle Ages, people with eye trouble invoked her aid because her name means "light." Scandinavia today still honors Lucy in a great festival of light on this day.
December 14: John of the Cross, priest and doctor (1542-1591), was a Carmelite who reformed his order with the help of Teresa of Avila. They created the Discalced (without shoes) Carmelite Order that offered a stricter interpretation of their rules. John was opposed by his community and placed in prison for a year. He wrote the classics, "Ascent of Mount Carmel," "Dark Night of the Soul," and "Living Flame of Love."
This Week in Jesuit History
- December 8, 1984: Walter Ciszek, prisoner in Russia from 1939 to 1963, died.
- December 9, 1741: At Paris, Fr. Charles Poree died. He was a famous master of rhetoric. Nineteen of his pupils were admitted into the French Academy, including Voltaire, who, in spite of his impiety, always felt an affectionate regard for his old master.
- December 10, 1548. The general of the Dominicans wrote in defense of the Society of Jesus upon seeing it attacked in Spain by Melchior Cano and others.
- December 11, 1686. At Rome, Fr. Charles de Noyelle, a Belgian, died as the 12th general of the Society.
- December 12, 1661. In the College of Clermont, Paris, Fr. James Caret publicly defended the doctrine of papal infallibility, causing great excitement among the Gallicans and Jansenists.
- December 13, 1545. The opening of the Council of Trent to which Frs. Laynez and Salmeron were sent as papal theologians and Fr. Claude LeJay as theologian of Cardinal Otho Truchses.
- December 14, 1979. The death of Riccardo Lombardi, founder of the Better World Movement.
