gorged?
"For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God." —Baruch 5:7
We are walking a path through the millennia to our heavenly home. Our path is obstructed by rough, winding, mountainous terrain (Lk 3:5; see also Mt 7:14). Possibly the most difficult obstacles we face are "age-old depths and gorges" (Bar 5:7). "Age-old depths" have become very deep, and the drop-offs are steep. It is usually impossible to walk down or walk up a gorge. Climbing down or up a gorge is so dangerous that the climbers risk their lives.
Spiritually speaking, "age-old depths and gorges" may be strongholds, sophistries, and proud pretensions which raise themselves in opposition to Jesus (2 Cor 10:4-5). "Depths and gorges" may be the sinful habits etched into our lives (see Col 3:7).
To fill in these gorges of sinfulness and thus be able to continue our journey home, we must repent, deny ourselves, and lose our sinful lives (Lk 9:23-24). When we celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Lord will peel off layer after layer of blinding sinfulness, and gorges which naturally become worse obstacles will be supernaturally filled and miraculously disappear.
Make one of your Advent Confessions as soon as possible. Make the treacherous ravines and "grand canyons" of your life passable. Go home.
Prayer: Father, make our love "more and more abound, both in understanding and wealth of experience, so that with a clear conscience and blameless conduct" we "may learn to value the things that really matter, up to the very day of Christ" (Phil 1:9-10).
Promise: "It is my wish that you may be found rich in the harvest of justice which Jesus Christ has ripened in you, to the glory and praise of God." —Phil 1:11
Praise: Praise Jesus, soon to come! "Every eye shall see Him" (Rv 1:7). Alleluia!
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Edward J. Gratsch, July 15, 2000
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 17, 2000