The Pacific Coast Trail! Have you ever heard of it? I grew up dreaming about hiking it with my Boy Scout buddies. I never did hike it. However, I have enjoyed reading many magazine and newspaper articles about people who have hiked the “PCT” over the past 45 years.

I recently read an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a 60 year old outdoorsman who hiked 1,000 miles of the 2,650 miles of trail last summer. His age of course piqued my interest; I am on the back side of 50! However, it was his hiking equipment that most surprised me. He did his trekking with less than nine pounds of gear! He shed a lot of equipment. I don’t ever remember hiking in the Montana wilderness areas with less than a 35-40 pound backpack on my back. This hiker’s minimalist approach to hiking the PCT got me thinking about our approaching Advent season.

Our Advent Gospel readings help us shed some of our comfort concerns, not to mention the compulsions, wants and wishes of all those others we think we need to keep happy during this time of year. We are bombarded with the worries of the secular world which are designed to tug at our hearts and all coated with glitter so that we will buy, wrap, give and buy some more. The warning to “be on guard” (Luke 21:34) is the spiritual discipline we need as we drive, walk in the mall and listen to endless advertisements on radio and TV.

Be alert, awake and truly notice where the Messiah is to be found. This happens as we wait prayerfully in God’s presence. We do not need to do much! It is God who is arranging the wonderful Birth of Christ! It is God coming to us! We are invited to come, with simple and open hearts to make room for God’s gift and God’s way of bringing the Kingdom in the child Jesus.