By Father Tom Shoemaker Some years ago, I broke a bone in my foot. A surgeon put a screw in the bone and told me that I couldn’t put any weight on that foot for six weeks. For six weeks, I hobbled around on crutches. They were the longest six weeks of my life. I found that I couldn’t do some of the most basic chores in life. I couldn’t carry a glass of water from the sink to the kitchen table. At Mass, I couldn’t carry cruets of water and wine to the altar. I couldn’t stand in the aisle and serve holy Communion. I was stationed at St. Jude in Fort Wayne at the time, and I discovered during those six weeks that our church sat on a bit of a hill. I had never really noticed that before. Walking uphill for a block on crutches is a long and difficult journey. A hill that I hadn’t noticed before became a formidable opponent. I can tell you that a person on crutches looks for the most direct route and the flattest route from place to place. A church on a hill is not an inspiring sight to a person on crutches. And now for Scripture: On this Second Sunday of Advent, we read two predictions of the coming Messiah. One comes from the prophet Baruch. He was writing about 600 years before Christ. The other is from John the Baptist. He is speaking at the time of Christ, alerting the people that Christ is on the way to their town. Notice something: In both of these prophecies, we are told that this Messiah will smooth the terrain. He will flatten the mountains and fill in the valleys. He will make the land smooth and level. He will take care of hills and give us smooth, flat highways. For a person on crutches, that is a wonderful prophecy. For the rest of us, we look beyond the metaphor. Our lives are filled with ups and downs. Wouldn’t it be great to see that smoothed? We may feel like we are struggling up a hill when our families are full of conflicts and divisions. We may feel like we are struggling up a hill when we are faced with financial problems. We may feel like we are struggling uphill when the pressures and tensions at work or at school are just too much. We may feel like we are struggling uphill when a relationship is going sour. We may feel like we are struggling uphill when a job is lost, or a car breaks down, or an illness hits. We may feel like we are struggling uphill when we have too much to do and not enough time to do it. And the prophets tell us of the day when those hills will be smooth – when those worries and cares will be smoothed. Of course, we know the Messiah did come. He came 2,000 years ago. So, have those highways become smooth? I think that all of us can agree that the hills have been somewhat smoothed by knowing Him. It helps to know that He is guiding us. It helps to know that He cares. It helps to be fed in the Eucharist and to have the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick when we need it. It helps to know that Jesus is walking the journey with us in love. To some extent, He has smoothed those hills. But we also look to the day when He will come again. We wait for the day when all these sufferings and challenges and hills will be flattened. It is Jesus who will bring us to that Kingdom. So, what do we do while we wait? We don’t just decorate the house and then sit in front of a TV. John the Baptist has words for us here; we have to prepare the way. We have to work with Him on smoothing the path. John tells us to begin by repenting. We must turn away from the sin that drags us down. This is a time for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We should also think about smoothing that road by stepping outside of ourselves. If we spend a lot of effort to create a beautiful meal for the family at Christmas, maybe we should also ask what we can do to feed the hungry at our local homeless shelters, or to help the hungry children in Haiti or Sudan. Christmas is the best time of year for building peace and unity. Maybe we can work on healing wounds within our families, within our workplaces, within our parishes. Jesus brings the ultimate peace, but surely we can help. Christmas is the time of year when we spend time with those we love. Maybe we can also make time for someone who is lonely. Only the Messiah will lower the mountains and fill in the valleys. But we can help. We can help by turning away from selfishness and sin and by sharing His love with others. We can help to make that highway smooth. Father Tom Shoemaker is the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Fort Wayne. The post This Advent, Help Christ Make Smooth the Hills and Valleys appeared first on Today's Catholic.