I know with covid we have not travelled much this year
but when we did travel by which road did we travel?
Most of us travel the main freeway to go from city to city.
For example if we were going up to San Francisco from San Jose
we would normally take Highway 101 or 280.
Does anyone take El Camino? No.
The old main road to San Francisco was called El Camino Real.
And there are probably a thousand lights between here and there!
It would take you a long time.
On a highway it might take one hour or 45 minutes
but it would take two hours on El Camino Real and
even longer other side streets.
Today in this gospel the Lord says to
“make straight our paths and prepare the way of the Lord.”
Our destination is God the Father and Jesus said,
“Make a highway to Him
and do not get distracted by all the little things in life
but go straight to God.”
What we need to realize is these highways we travel today,
Highway 280 and Highway 101 and every freeway, had to be built.
Our ancestors had to create flyovers and
they pulled down some mountains.
They blew holes into the mountains
so they could put the road right through it.
That’s how roads get made.
And that is the exact analogy that the Lord is telling us about today.
For the boys and girls here,
what for us are the mountains that we need to lay low?
And what are the valleys we need to fill in; or build a bridge over?
What are the things that kind of get in our way of keeping
God at the center of our life?
What do you think are some of the things
we have to get out of our way to keep God first?
What seems to distract us from God?
Video and computer games.
Toys, if we use them a lot.
There are lots of little things that can get in our way, boys and girls.
Sometimes it is not things but our habits that can make us selfish.
We can hold onto things and we don’t want to share.
We can be very demanding of our parents.
We want this. We want that.
We want our own way instead of allowing the way of the Lord in our life.
We can even get jealous of our friends having this or that.
These are some of the little things that can get in our way.
What the Lord asks us is to fill in those valleys
and to lay down those mountains.
And how do we do that?
How we do that is we choose to be generous.
We choose to be grateful.
We choose to be kind.
We choose to be gentle.
And we choose to be selfless.
We share our toys.
We share our things.
But we have to do that and we have to always choose Christ.
God is the destination.
Jesus is the way.
As long as we keep on asking what would Jesus have us do,
and keep choosing Jesus then that will keep us on the right road.
That is the main highway.
Jesus is the highway.
We actually do not even need to make it as long as we choose Jesus,
we keep on choosing the right road.
That is what this whole Advent time is all about.
As we prepare for Christmas, and celebrating the birth of Christ,
we are reminded that the way to God is through Jesus.
So boys and girls, over these next couple of weeks,
you are going to have lots of excitement coming
because Christmas is coming and I know you want to get lots of toys;
and you want to get this and that.
I want you to just be present to the gift of what you already have.
You have your Mum and Dad,
your brothers and sisters in your life;
maybe your grandparents are around so just be grateful
and choose to be generous;
choose to be grateful;
choose to be kind.
Can you do that?
You can choose to do that.
[Children leave]
****
Of course, I make that sound so easy, right?
We all know that is not so easy to choose.
Things come our way that make those choices hard.
So much comes at us today that tends to distract us
from the message of the gospel.
Social media does not promote the idea of choosing Christ.
The ordinary media does not choose the message of Christ.
They have anything but that message.
And so we have to find out what are we listening to
so we can choose Christ.
Also, it is mostly what is inside our own hearts.
How do we handle what happens to us in our life?
Today’s gospel is about is this laser-like focus to stay focused on
Christ as the way and the path that will get us to the Father.
And again, it sounds simple but it can be so hard.
As you know, this week has been a really difficult week for me
with the loss of my brother Paul,
and the loss of my spiritual director.
Both had pancreatic cancer and they suffered;
one for a year
and the other one for 6 plus months.
It is an awful disease.
It is a painful, painful way to die.
What is extraordinary for my brother, Paul
is that once he got past the initial shock and anger of having the disease,
he was still able to choose Christ.
He was still able to be grateful that
he had this extra time with his family;
to be able to spend the time although he had to work for it
because he had to take all that chemotherapy
and all that but he chose to be grateful for the extra time.
He chose to be grateful for the love he had shared
all these years even though it had been cut short.
There is nothing that will cause us to focus on what is important
when you know you have a limited time left.
And that is so important for us.
Just ponder for a moment,
what are the most important things or people in your life?
I promise you that if you sit and think about
all of the things are not important,
it is all the people who are important.
And those relationships are so valuable.
And those relationships that cause you frustration and pain
become not as important to you.
I do not wish for anyone to have pancreatic cancer because it is awful.
I do not wish for anyone to be ill.
But let us think about what are the most important things.
Let us focus:
you have these beautiful children
that are here with you today.
Isn’t that one of the greatest gifts
that you have to treasure each moment
regardless of what you buy for Christmas?
Here, now, what you have is this gift that is with you.
And for you as children, boys and girls,
is to recognize the gift of your parents’ love;
recognize what a tremendous gift that you have.
Let’s be present to that this next week.
Let’s not wait for Christmas for that.
Let’s just seize this moment and make ready that in our life;
to be grateful for the love that we share
whether it be our children; our parents; or our spouse;
or our siblings; or our friends.
May we be grateful for what and who is already in our life here and now.
And make ready the way of the Lord and make straight his path.
