"Climb the Lord's mountain" - 1st Sunday of Advent Homily

went to the dentist last month and it was all kind of new.

There's a new firm that took over my dentist's office.

I went to him for 20 years.

He was totally chill, knew his stuff.

It was great.

And now he's moved on and they swoop in and it's all corporate and like high tech.

instruments and images and everything.

They're very friendly, very nice, but it was like, So they had me sit in the chair and they pulled up an image.

There's a big screen right next to me, like a 3D color image of my teeth with the gums and the plaque.

And I'm like, look at that.

But it works because that's all I can think about when I brush a floss now.

Like, I don't want to see that again.

And it could have been worse.

I mean, actually take it seriously going to the dentist.

I go twice a year.

And I don't want a bad visit because I've gone before when I was not prepared.

And yeah, just that won't happen again.

Anything big that we know is coming, like a dentist appointment, a doctor appointment, a test at school, or project at work, or a house gas for dinner, we get ready for it.

We make preparations.

We don't just sit around and let it happen.

had mass with the commanders last night.

I'm like, guys, I'm not even going to preach to you because you know about preparation.

You over-prepare every single game.

It's preaching to the choir.

No offense.

I don't even know what that means.

But the readings say for us as Christians, this season of Advent is a reminder to prepare for the Lord's coming and not just sit around and wait.

Advent means coming to, or Latin.

And we know the Lord is coming.

He says, we don't know the day.

But be prepared, stay awake.

There are so many action verbs in these readings.

Get a sense going back to the days of Noah and people are just hanging out.

They're just waiting, eating and drinking and then boom!

he's like, let that happen to you.

Stay awake.

Be prepared like you guard your house.

That kind of vigilance, that kind of alertness.

St.

Paul says, put on the Lord Jesus.

That is an action verb.

Don't just let him be put on you.

thinking it's all going to go okay.

Like me, just, I don't need to floss, going to the dentist, going to be fine.

Then they show me the picture, like, ugh, it's not fine.

I love the image of Isaiah.

We have this on our walkway coming up the hill to the church.

Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain.

Let us climb the Lord's Mountain.

We probably have some climbers here, hikers.

It's a beautiful activity to go for a walk in nature to be active, not just sit around and do nothing.

Let us climb the Lord's mountain.

So Advent is a great time to remind us to climb the Lord's mountain.

Take that first step.

A lot of people look at the mountain that faith is like a mountain.

It's like learning a new language.

It's just too big.

I don't know even know where to start.

So you don't.

But you take the first step up the mountain.

And for some of you, it might be coming to Mass today.

This is the first step.

If you haven't been for a while, or you don't come regularly, you don't come weekly, this is the first step.

And yeah, stay with it.

That's the first step of the mountain.

Commit to every Sunday in Advent.

Because you're committing to the Lord.

This is not Father Greg's mountain.

This is not the church's mountain.

It's the mountain of the Lord.

Specifically Jesus in the Eucharist.

That's why we come here every week.

And he says, you need to feed on me.

If you want to have life, you want to have eternal life, take the steps up of the mountain of the Eucharist.

And then of course regular confession, which is the perfect preparation.

I write in the bulletin in preparing for Lord's coming in Holy Communion.

Now let's say you're committed to that.

You're walking up the mountain, you're taking steps.

The next step would be to make God the center of your life.

A person sent me reflections by Coach Joe Gibbs on his 85th birthday.

And that was the first thing he wrote to make God the center of your life.

So I read that to the commanders last night during Mass and the head coach loved it.

He wants a copy of it.

I said, guys, that's like as Catholics making the Eucharist the center of your life.

That's the reason people go to daily Mass in addition to Sunday while they go to the Adoration Chapel.

And maybe people for the first time not realizing the Eucharist is cool, I call it, center of our lives, until Adoration and be so captivated by it.

Like how do I miss this all these years?

He's right here in my hand, in my belly.

As I said recently, the King of the Universe.

So to climb the Lord's Mountain means to take steps in growing in relationship with Him.

If you've all those things and you're looking for something more, come to our parish mission, an Advent.

As I'm preparing this homily last week, the Lord said, Father Greg, what are you doing?

What's your next step?

I need a new Spirit Director.

I'm not asking for one, don't step forward.

But I need to find a priest.

This Advent, it's been a year for me.

The longest stretch I've had in my adulthood without a director.

So that's my next step in Up the Lord's Mountain in Advent.

We all need to do something.

The collect the opening prayer said to run to the Lord at His coming.

Think of the apostles sprinting to the tomb on Easter Sunday to meet the Lord who had come out of the dead.

There's a great sense that we need to be going to the Lord as He's coming to us.

Like, do something.

Going up the mountain to the Lord, preparing for His coming.