Hills and Valleys

Hills and valleys.  That will be my topic for today.  Hills and Valleys.  Let’s begin with a picture of the geography of the Middle East.  There are many mountains and valleys between Babylon and the land of Israel.  The People of God were being held captive in Babylon in the year 539 B.C. and their goal was to return to their homeland.

Late in that year the prophet Isaiah said to the People, “God has sent King Cyrus of Persia to be our liberator.  King Cyrus has defeated the Babylonians, and we are free to go home now.”  But some of the people said, “That journey is so difficult.  We think that we will stay right here.  Climbing those mountains and going through those valleys makes for a very difficult journey.”  Then Isaiah said to the people, “I wouldn’t worry about the hills and valleys because God will be with us and God will cut down the hills and fill in the valleys and we will be home in no time.”

Some of the people laughed at Isaiah; but most of the people decided to make the journey.  They followed their God all the way back to their homeland.  They rebuilt the Temple and gave thanks to God for setting them free.

Now let’s take a look at today’s gospel.  St. Luke tells us about John the Baptist and draws the conclusion that John is a lot like Isaiah.  Both were prophets and both were preaching in the wilderness.  Both talked about a special homecoming event that would take them over the hills and valleys.  And both said, “Follow the Lord and you will be led safely home.”

John the Baptist said, “God is leading you to a new Temple - and this new Temple is a person.  The new temple is the Messiah, the new dwelling place for God in our world.  And God will help you get there by cutting down the hills and filling in the valleys.”  “What do you mean?” his audience said.  “What do you mean by hills and valleys?”  John said, “Your hills are your mountains of pride and your valleys are your lowlands of selfishness.  You have two coats and you want to keep both of them for yourself.  With the help of God’s grace you can give one away and that will cut down one of your hills of pride and fill in one of your valleys of selfishness.

You have more food than you need.  With the help of God’s grace you can share with those in need and that will cut down another one of your hills of pride and fill in another one of your valleys of selfishness.

Now let’s think about our situation in 2024.  When we are reading the Bible, we hear John the Baptist and the prophet Isaiah talking about homecoming; so let’s go back home for a moment.  Let’s think about the values that our parents handed on to us when we were children.  They told us that Charity is the most important virtue for living the Christian life.  Charity is very much like love, yet somehow more than love.  They told us about three levels of charity.

In the first level we give something - like birthday gifts or Christmas gifts – We give something to friends and family members and we enjoy seeing the smiles on their faces.  In the second level of charity we give something to someone who could not possibly pay us back.  Jesus said in one of his sermons: “Give to those who could not possibly pay you back.”

In the third level of charity, we give something in such a way that we never find out who receives the gift.  We just let go and let someone else deliver the gift.  This third level of charity is what our church recommends for us during this Advent season.  When we give something to the food shelf or Toys for Tots, or Catholic Charities, we never get to see who receives the gift - and that is the highest form of giving. 

In all three cases we will not see the people who will benefit from our gifts.  This kind of giving reminds me of St. Nicholas.  He had a reputation for secret gift-giving.  St. Nicholas made many anonymous gifts to people in need.  They could not thank him because they did not know who gave the gift.  This kind of giving has a different kind of reward.  St. Ignatius of Loyola described it best when he said, “We should give without seeking reward except the reward of knowing that we are doing God’s will.”  Doing God’s will is all the reward that we need.

The net result of this kind of charity is that we will be closer to Christ who is the Temple of the New Covenant.  We will be closer to Christ who is Charity personified since he gave his life for us.  We will be closer to Christ whose heart is always our spiritual home.

We take a moment now to ask God for the help that we need.  We ask God to give us the grace that we need to cut down the hills of pride and fill in the valleys of selfishness.  Our hills of pride and valleys of selfishness make it hard for us to be charitable.  We ask God to give us the grace that we need to function at the deeper levels of charity.  We ask God to give us the grace that we need to be closer to Jesus who said, “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.”