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Commentary on the Gospel – December 14, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters, peace and all good.
The Liturgy of the Word for this third Sunday of Advent offers us three specific invitations: an invitation to a mature faith, to joy, and to patience.
Sometimes we ask ourselves: “Is this really what was promised to us?” And people get disenchanted. There is a reason Jesus says: Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. He certainly performed plenty of signs and miracles; but He didn’t bring the liberation of Israel from the Roman yoke, nor did He cure every single sick person (evil and suffering still proliferate in our societies today). He didn’t perform the flashy, overwhelming signs people expected; instead, He ended up on a cross. For many, He disappointed the hopes they had placed in Him. Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me!
However, we need to reflect on three things here:
First: We cannot dictate how God chooses to show up. We are not God’s bosses; we don’t get to mark in His planner what He has to do and when He has to do it. Furthermore, He performs signs even greater than those pointed out by the prophet Isaiah: “the dead are raised.” The greatest sign of His closeness and love for His people—for the crowds, and for each and every one of us—was precisely His own death. It was the free offering of His life as the price for our rescue: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Second: The One we were waiting for was greater than Isaiah, Daniel, or the people of ancient Israel ever dreamed. He wasn’t just another prophet, not even the greatest of prophets; He wasn’t just another wise man. He was the Word of God and the Wisdom of God (with a capital W). It was the Son of God Himself who became present among us, who took on our condition, who carried our ailments and diseases, and who showed us the face of God. In fact, the reality was far greater than their biggest dreams. But that reality shook up the expectations that many people and groups held on to.
Third: Even Christ’s humanity implies a “lowering” of God, keeping His true being somewhat invisible. We can remain blind to His manifestation. We might even be scandalized by having to recognize the Absolute in a human reality—a reality that seems too human. Even when we manage to recognize Him, we still find ourselves before a stranger… God Himself, in His revelation, remains a mystery. We cannot verify revelation like a proven scientific fact; we can only recognize it by consenting to His mystery. In a very real sense, I perceive God revealing Himself, but I perceive Him in such a way that I am not exempt from believing that He is revealing Himself. The act by which we grasp the reality of revelation is an act of submission. Here, experience is an act of obedience.
A second invitation is the call to joy. I mentioned at the beginning that when the liturgy was celebrated in Latin, this third Sunday was called Gaudete Sunday because that is the first word of the entrance antiphon. The opening prayer gives us the reason: Christmas, the feast of joy and salvation, is near. We even ask God to grant us the grace to celebrate it with overflowing joy. He will not be born again physically; but the One who was born of Mary some 2,000 years ago becomes present among us.
Finally, the third invitation is the call to patience. Who are we to tell God what to do and when to do it? We would love for certain personal trials we are going through to just disappear from our spirits; we would love for the walls blocking the advance of faith in our society to fall down, and so on. But only God is the Lord of history; time and eternity belong to Him.
Your brother in faith,
Alejandro, C.M.F.