Dear Friends,

Every year on the second Sunday in Advent we are introduced to that most vocal of Advent characters, John the Baptist. Likened to the prophet who cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,” John announces the impending arrival of the One who will baptize not with water, but with the Holy Spirit.

As I went for my walk today and eased into the rhythm of my usual pace, I pondered our Gospel writer’s words about this unusual man who devoted his life to preparing the way. Up one street and down another, I thought about roads that I, too, had taken. I remembered an enchanted day with friends walking the paths through the seaside cliffs of Cinque Terre, visiting the medieval villages along the way. I thought of the 6 weeks I spent hiking the John Muir trail in the Sierras during my first year of college. I recalled occasions that I have navigated a labyrinth in places as far apart as Chartres Cathedral, Shrine Mont, and Burning Man, tracing an ancient pattern that has provided a contemplative path for centuries.

In my vocation as a priest, I live constantly with the awareness that there are no maps for what I am doing—that I am making the path as I go, with all the wonders and challenges this brings. And yet, each time I move through the liturgical traditions of Advent, I am reminded that even as I move across what seems like uncharted territory, there is a way that lies beneath the way that I am going. Others have traveled here ahead of me, each in their own way, offering me provisions I can use—words, images, prayers, stories, wisdom—that help me to find my way and enable me to smooth the path a bit for others yet to come.

In some sense we are all creating the road as we go. Yet, beneath this, undergirding this, is a path carved by those who have traveled here before us, who followed the God who called them to the journey, who gave themselves to preparing a way for the One who came into the world to walk with us.

What path are you traveling in this Advent season? What do you find along the way that can help you create the road as you go? Who has helped to create the path and provided inspiration to walk it in your own manner? How might you prepare the way—and become part of the way—for the One who comes in love, for us all?

In the Hope of Advent,

Amelie+