mountains and valleys

In today's Sunday readings in the mass I seemed to be drawn to those passages on preparing the way of the Lord.  It seemed to me to be focusing on preparation of the soul to receive the crowning glory of the sanctifying act of God of living in the Divine Will.

Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height and look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.  ⁶ For they went forth from you on foot, led away by their enemies; but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal throne.  ⁷ For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.  ⁸ The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God’s command.  ⁹ For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

Baruch 5:5-9

⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁵Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Lk 3:4-5

Leveling the earth preparing for the building of the new creation, the new Jerusalem.

¹¹ I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. ¹² He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.¹³ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Revelation 3:11-13

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;
Revelation 21:1-3

So much preparation to prepare man for the return to the purpose of his creation, that of living in the Divine Will.  The Redemption and the Sacraments, remedies, medicines to heal and to dispose the creature to the point of resignation to his Will.  The first stepping stone to the doorway of living in his Will.

"But even though the first purpose was to balance all the accounts of my Divine Will, as Celestial Doctor I complied with giving medicines, remedies, I spoke about forgiveness, about detachment, I instituted Sacraments, I suffered atrocious pains, even unto death. It can be said that this was the new creation I prepared so that creatures might receive my Divine Will as King in the midst of His people, in order to let It reign. So I have done with you; first I prepared you, I spoke to you about crosses, about virtues, about love, to dispose you to listen to the lessons of my Fiat, so that, by knowing It, you would love It, and feeling within yourself the great good of Its Life, you would want to give Its Life to all, making It known, loved, and letting It reign.”
Vol. 27, Nov 20, 1929

 

"When I came upon earth, man was so engulfed in evil and so full of human will, that the living in my Will could find no place. So, in my Redemption, first I impetrated for him the grace of resignation to my Will, because in the state he was in, he was incapable of receiving the greatest gift – the living in my Will. And then I impetrated for him the greatest grace, as crown and fulfillment of all graces – the living in my Will,..."

Vol. 16, Feb 22, 1924

Each point in our history has been a stepping stone a preparation to the repossession of his Kingdom, of securing it so that it will never be breached again, both our home and His.
 

"...establishing my Kingdom in the soul also on earth - I acted like a king who has to take possession of a kingdom.  He does not go there first; rather, first he has his royal palace prepared; then he sends his soldiers to prepare the kingdom and to dispose the peoples to his subjection; then follow the guards of honor and the ministers – and the last one is the king.  This is decorous for a king.  So I did:  I had my Royal Palace prepared, which is the Church; the soldiers have been the Saints, in order to make Me known to the peoples; then came the Saints who sowed miracles, as my most intimate ministers; and now I Myself come to reign as the King."

Vol. 13, Dec. 3, 1921