Jesus does most of the work in reconciling God and man (see Is 35:4). He travels the unimaginable distance from heaven to earth, bounding from His heavenly throne (see Wis 18:15) all the way to our front door (Rv 3:20). His journey stops there. To complete the reconciliation with God, we have to travel the distance from our seat to our front door to let Jesus into our lives.

For a person to travel such a comparatively short distance to open up to Jesus and reconcile with God would seem to be no problem at all. But Scripture alludes to this path as a "highway" (Is 40:3). The short distance we must travel to Jesus is still blocked by mountains and valleys (Is 40:3-4).

Some people are unable to make this journey (Is 35:9) on their own. They may be afraid (Is 35:4), feeble (Is 35:3), paralyzed (Lk 5:18), or blind (Is 35:5). We who have already made this journey must help others to do so. Like the faith-filled stretcher-bearers (Lk 5:18-19), we must climb walls, open roofs, level mountains, fill valleys, and bring others to find reconciliation and forgiveness in Jesus (Lk 5:20). Jesus not only accepts our substituted faith (Lk 5:20), "He has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. This makes us ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor 5:19-20). "Get up!" (Lk 5:24) Bring others to Jesus this Advent.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert J. Buschmiller, June 11, 1998

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 20, 1998