St. John Damascene, priest and doctor of the church, is quoted as saying, “Prayer is the raising up of the mind to God.” It was the phrase “raising up” that caught my attention as I reflected on the reading from Isaiah, where Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s house “established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.”
There is a definite connection between God’s supremacy and being above the ordinary. Yet, God doesn’t want to be apart from us. Instead, as Isaiah prophesies, “All nations shall stream toward (the Lord’s house) and many people will say, ‘Come let us climb the Lord’s mountain, that He may instruct us in His ways and we may walk in His paths.’”
As I thought about the idea of ascending a mountain, or even a large hill like the Blue Hills in Milton, I thought of my friends, Jay and Linda, and their two adult children Caeleb and Korina. As a family, they have climbed many mountains in New England and beyond. For Caeleb and Korina, even as children, it was natural to spend a day or even a week hiking up the White and Green mountains, and now, as adults, they both continue this great form of recreation.
As families, we are also called by our baptism to spiritually journey upward, to rise above the temptation to self-absorption, laziness, and other vices that impede our friendship with God and family bonds of love. Advent is a time set aside for us to be watchful and alert to the promptings of God in how and what we are doing in our spiritual lives.
The centurion, though he was not an observant Jewish man, nonetheless believed in Jesus’ authority to heal his paralyzed servant so that He approached and petitioned Jesus. What is our level of faith in Jesus? Do we believe with the surety of the centurion? Do we believe enough to tell a person struggling with their faith in our family or a friend that we will pray for their needs and that God can bring about good?
Certainly, your young sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, and grandchildren will follow you if you choose to pray together, go to Confession, and attend Sunday Mass as a family. Just like Caeleb and Korina experienced the beauty of creation with their parents, and learned lessons from their parents along those trails, we, too, are meant to teach our family members of all ages by putting our faith into action and inviting them to join us as we hike the trails of our lives this Advent, seeking to rise above the temptations and the ordinary to new heights with God, together with our families and friends. Let us pray for one another to rise toward God each day.
St. John Damascene, pray for us!
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
