Is 2:3  

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.

In the Bible mountains are places of encounter with God: Mt Sinai, Mt Horeb, Mt Tabor, and others. But mountains are also a metaphor for the spiritual life: ‘Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart can climb the mountain of the Lord’ (Ps 24). When I lived as a missionary in Korea, which is quite a mountainous country, the Buddhist temples were usually to be found in the heavily wooded mountains as well as the more secretive Shaman shrines. Mountains as places of encounter with the spiritual runs deep in Korean culture. Some of the evangelical Christians had places of retreat in the rugged countryside called ‘prayer-mountains’. And the dead would be buried, if possible, on the slopes of a mountain. So much so, the Korean phrase for burying the dead was ‘to go to the mountain’. I was a keen mountain walker in those days, and I recall coming across a man standing on top of a rocky outcrop shouting at God, and it didn’t sound as if he was too happy!  

But as a metaphor for the spiritual life, climbing a mountain is very suggestive. Mountain climbing requires careful preparation, then effort and perseverance. There will be times on the way to the top when the peak will be hidden and the path may become obscured. Often a companion along the way is a great help. Climbing mountains on one’s own is much more risky. But the exhilaration, and the vista, on getting to the top makes all the effort worthwhile. Somehow, one feels closer to God on a mountain.

Jesus took his disciples to a ‘high mountain’ to show them his glory at the Transfiguration; and God spoke to him on the mountain. He also gave his sermon on the ‘mount’; and finally gave himself up to God on ‘Mount’ Calvary.

So the invitation today from the prophet Isaiah to go up the mountain of the Lord, is an invitation to enter more deeply into our spiritual journey towards God, a journey that will have all the risks and dangers of mountain climbing but also the unsurpassable joy of getting to the top.

A reflection written by Paul Graham O.S.A., St Joseph's Broomhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland

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