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One of the charms of my last parish, St. Michael the Archangel, was that it was nestled in the middle of a neighborhood. Something interesting about that place was its small parking lot. Historically it wasn’t needed. There was a bus stop one block away. The metrolink station was only a .25 mile stroll. A good number of parishioners walked to Mass. That is increasingly rare these days. We drive everywhere all the time! I only put 12-15k miles a year on my vehicle but my dad notched 35k a year when he was doing outside sales. Those of you running your kids around from thing to thing are probably logging 20k miles a year. All of this is simply to make the point that driving is an important and constant part of our lives. A huge factor in whether our time behind the wheel is something that leads to holiness or adds to time in purgatory is the road we happen to be on. A good road makes the journey pleasant, efficient, and relatively stress free. The miles can fly by and we arrive at our destination happy and on time. A bad road can leave us tense, frustrated, and late, if we arrive at all. But good roads don’t come easy; they require tremendous effort, planning, cost, and frequent updating. Any shortcuts you take will haunt you later.
Think back to the old section of 64/40, from 270 into the city of St. Louis. It was a nightmare! Built in the mid-1930's, it had those dangerously short entrance and exit ramps, where drivers were fighting each other to get over before the road ran out. My least favorite section was entering or exiting the highway at Lindberg Blvd. The old 64/40 was a narrow highway by modern standards with only three lanes in each direction and was designed for speeds between 40 and 50 miles per hour. As Saint Louis spread from the city to the county and cars became more numerous, this historic little highway became extremely congested. Daily commuters could count on substantial delays each day at certain bottlenecks or accident-prone parts of the highway. However, because of the volume of traffic that used the roadway, and the dated design of the ramps and overpasses, there was little that could be done to improve safety and traffic flow.
After decades of frustration and head-scratching, accidents and bumper-to-bumper traffic, it was decided to shut down the stretch of highway running through the city and completely rebuild it. This seemed like an impossible task, because most of that traffic would have to be re-directed to secondary roads and other highways which were already crowded. But after two years of waiting and relatively little hassle, drivers were given a new highway which was safer, faster, wider, smoother, and straighter. 12 years later, many people have forgotten how bad the old highway was, we’ve certainly forgotten the two years of waiting and sacrificing as the road was being improved. Perhaps the only question asked when it was all over was, "why didn't we do this sooner?"
Interestingly enough, the Missouri Department of Transportation opened the new and improved 64/40 on the 2nd Sunday of Advent back in 2009. They couldn’t have timed it better. The very real need that Saint Louis had for a new highway to connect her people is very similar to the need we each have for a spiritual highway connecting us to God and his saving love. Luke's gospel tells us that John the Baptist was wandering through the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of Christ. He was echoing those beautiful words from the prophet Isaiah: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
John the Baptist, the last of the prophets and one of the first to follow Christ, calls on the people of every age to fill in the valleys, to lower the hills and mountains, to straighten the winding roads and smooth the rough patches not on our roads (although I hope we still do that too!) but in our hearts. In the spiritual life, it is our faith which is our spiritual highway. It is through our faith that God sends us the many graces and blessings which make it possible to follow him and gain eternal life.
Much like old roadways, our faith can become outdated. Many of us have not learned much about our faith since grade school or high school. It is not a stretch to say that most of us have experienced a narrowing of our faith due to doubt or disagreement with some Church teachings. Is it possible that our faith has become weakened or even treacherous due to some habit of pride or sin that threatens to tear us apart? Perhaps there are some rough patches where our prayer life has been neglected. For the Christian, faith must be alive, always growing and learning; it can never be allowed to stand still or it is already beginning to crumble. Much like the roadways of our country, our faith must be constantly maintained, improved, and broadened so that we can handle the spiritual traffic that comes our way. God can only send as many graces as we are capable of receiving, the wider our highways of faith, the more blessings we are capable of handling.
This season of Advent is a time given to us by the Church to improve and restructure our spiritual lives. We can look for ways in the next few weeks to turn the winding, bumpy roads of our faith into smooth highways capable of absorbing the many ups and downs of this busy season.
How do we do this? The foundation for each of us must be a regular practice of prayer. Not just asking God to change a light or find a parking place but also prayers of praise and gratitude for the many wonderful ways he has blessed us. An essential component to our prayer must be some time in silence. We know from Scripture that silence is the preferred place where God speaks to those he loves. What else? Make this Advent season more about Christ and the gifts that can’t be bought. Finally, don’t waste the many opportunities that the Church gives us in this beautiful season to contemplate the great mystery that Christ was born as one of us, like us in all things, except sin. Make the most of the times you will be in church for Mass, giving thanks for the gift of the Eucharist and experiencing God’s cleansing mercy in confession.
You know, when they first announced the Highway 40 overhaul, a lot of people groaned and said it was going to be disaster. I was one of them. The amount of work was daunting and seemed to be nearly impossible but I was wrong. The same thing can happen to us with this busy season as we are pulled in so many different directions. Don’t be afraid of the spiritual overhaul God wants to work in you. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the many ways you might fall short. Jesus will give you the grace to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his paths. He will help you fill in those valleys and level those mountains. Trust in him this Advent season and life’s winding roads shall be made straight, the rough ways made smooth, and you shall see the salvation of God.
