Advent 2024: Week 2 Reflection

“A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”
-Luke 3:4b

A Reflection
by Sue Garthwaite, Parishioner

​Are we like Baruch, trying to understand a difficult situation, wearing our sorrow like a garment, and struggling to hope? The prophet reminds us we belong to God, Who remembers us. When we have been “led away,” God creates a way back to mercy, joy, beauty, and light. Even nature— “the forests and every fragrant kind of tree”—is a help to us.

Our psalm says God “has done great things for us” that give joy. God’s track record produces hope that God will always do this. Even if we are sowing little seeds in sadness, one day our arms will be filled with sheaves.

Paul, imprisoned in Rome, writes to the diverse people of Philippi that he is joyful because of their “partnership for the Gospel.” No doubt the Romans, Jews, and Greeks there had different styles and opinions, but Paul sees their sharing in the Gospel as their foremost common denominator. He stresses the “good work” begun in them and prays that their love “may increase ever more and more” so they may be “pure and blameless.” We, too, can pray with joy, since we also share the Gospel as our most important common denominator.

Our Gospel begins ominously with those who spell trouble for Jesus—Pontius Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas. Then, it shifts to John the Baptist proclaiming: “Prepare the way of the Lord” that we “shall see the salvation of God.” We prepare by remembering we belong to God, Who always does great things for us, continuing to sow little seeds of love, and looking past our differences to our joy in sharing the Gospel. To prepare, as St. John XXIII says, “the important thing is to know how to answer God’s call.”


Sue is a spiritual writer, spiritual director, prayer group leader, and retreat facilitator. She is the author of Saint Hildegard: Ancient Insights for Modern Seekers.