Second Sunday of Advent

I love the Collect for the Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent:
Almighty and merciful God,
may no earthly undertaking hinder those 
who set out in haste to meet your Son,
but may our learning of heavenly wisdom
gain us admittance to his company. 
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

I certainly felt as if I spent the first week of Advent in haste, but fear that much of my doing was my own desire to catch up with myself after having been away for sixteen days. Now I hope to quiet down and just have time to create inner silence and wait for the Lord. Advent is a time of waiting; it is waiting but in joyful anticipation of the coming of the Lord.  We want to make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Isaiah goes on to say: "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

I like the end of the reading from Isaiah when he tells us:
"Like a shepherd he leads his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care."

Prepare ye the way of the Lord. How am I doing this each day?