Advent is a wonderful season of expectation and busy preparation.  It offers us opportunities to look inwardly and gratefully at our own bountiful blessings, and outwardly and generously at ways to share our gifts and the gift of Jesus’ presence with others.

Isaiah’s reading today is clearly an Advent exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Lord. In Isaiah’s time the coming was the return to Jerusalem; in John the Baptist’s time it was the coming of Jesus; in our time it is the realization that Jesus has come and lives within us.

The message “Make straight in the wasteland, a highway for our God! “can have particular relevance to today’s time when there is so much going on in the world that is troubling: inequality, injustice, violence, poverty. These conditions are a “wasteland”- a detour in our world. They also offer us a “traffic advisory” as we prepare for Jesus this year. The message is to “recalculate”.  Based on the message of Jesus, we are to look within ourselves and beyond ourselves to navigate the rough road and promote the value and respect for all peoples and to recognize the humanity and divinity of each person.

As the prophet suggests in the preparation for the Lord, the directions are easy to understand.  When we believe the message of Jesus, our road to earthly happiness and eternal life is straightforward.  As long as we are resolute in our faith, the detours of life will not hamper our journey. The way is clear.  Because of our faith in action,

“Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley”.

Isaiah suggests that when the mountains and plains are level and we all recognize our equality and the spirit of God with us, “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together”.