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). There His journey stops. To complete 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. Nonetheless, 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 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 reconciliation and forgiveness in Jesus (Lk 5:20). Jesus not only accepts our supporting 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.
| PRAYER: | Father, use me to bring several people to Confession this month. |
| PROMISE: | "Full of awe, they gave praise to God, saying, 'We have seen incredible things today!' " –Lk 5:26 |
| PRAISE: | After virtually eradicating the Arian heresy in his diocese, St. Ambrose also worked to do so in Milan and Rome. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College