Mystery Patience and Change

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, the Third Sunday of Advent, invite us to embrace the Mystery that Advent anticipates of Jesus' invitation to full life.

Patient in the Mystery

The Reading from the Prophet Isaiah proclaims Israel’s Deliverance.

* [35:1–10] This chapter contains a number of themes similar to those in Deutero-Isaiah (chaps. 40–55), for example, the blossoming of the wilderness (vv. 1–2; cf. 41:18–19), which is now well-irrigated (v. 7; cf. 43:19–20); sight to the blind (vv. 5–6; cf. 42:7, 16); a highway in the wilderness (v. 8; cf. 41:3); and the return of the redeemed/ransomed to Zion (vv. 9–10; cf. 51:11). Nevertheless, it forms a unit with chap. 34 (see note on 34:1–35:10) and reflects, along with that chapter, themes found in chaps. 1–33. (“Isaiah, CHAPTER 35 | USCCB,” n.d.)

Psalm 146 declares there is no other source of strength except the merciful God.

* [Psalm 146] A hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God. Only God, not mortal human beings (Ps 146:3–4), can help vulnerable and oppressed people (Ps 146:5–9). The first of the five hymns that conclude the Psalter. (“Psalms, PSALM 146 | USCCB,” n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of James alerts us to awareness of Patience and Oaths.

* [5:7–11] Those oppressed by the unjust rich are reminded of the need for patience, both in bearing the sufferings of human life (Jas 5:9) and in their expectation of the coming of the Lord. It is then that they will receive their reward (Jas 5:7–8, 10–11; cf. Heb 10:25; 1 Jn 2:18).

* [5:7] The early and the late rains: an expression related to the agricultural season in ancient Palestine (see Dt 11:14; Jer 5:24; Jl 2:23). (“James, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB,” n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, messengers from the Baptist receive Jesus’ Testimony to John.*

* [11:2] In prison: see Mt 4:12; 14:1–12. The works of the Messiah: the deeds of Mt 8–9.

* [11:3] The question probably expresses a doubt of the Baptist that Jesus is the one who is to come (cf. Mal 3:1) because his mission has not been one of fiery judgment as John had expected (Mt 3:2).

* [11:5–6] Jesus’ response is taken from passages of Isaiah (Is 26:19; 29:18–19; 35:5–6; 61:1) that picture the time of salvation as marked by deeds such as those that Jesus is doing. The beatitude is a warning to the Baptist not to disbelieve because his expectations have not been met.

* [11:7–19] Jesus’ rebuke of John is counterbalanced by a reminder of the greatness of the Baptist’s function (Mt 11:7–15) that is followed by a complaint about those who have heeded neither John nor Jesus (Mt 11:16–19).

* [11:9–10] In common Jewish belief there had been no prophecy in Israel since the last of the Old Testament prophets, Malachi. The coming of a new prophet was eagerly awaited, and Jesus agrees that John was such. Yet he was more than a prophet, for he was the precursor of the one who would bring in the new and final age. The Old Testament quotation is a combination of Mal 3:1; Ex 23:20 with the significant change that the before me of Malachi becomes before you. The messenger now precedes not God, as in the original, but Jesus.

* [11:11] John’s preeminent greatness lies in his function of announcing the imminence of the kingdom (Mt 3:1). But to be in the kingdom is so great a privilege that the least who has it is greater than the Baptist. (“Matthew, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB,” n.d.)

Rev. Kent Beausoleil, SJ, comments that Jesus recognizes that the real prophetic statement to everyone is not a choice between “Change or die.” But the real prophetic message, the one our soul longs for the most, is: change, let me into the manger of your heart, and find ever more life.

Rejoice in new found hope as you let me heal and transform you.  So we live on in hope.  Hope that time is passing and every day we are closer to that second coming.  The hope found in living as Christians offering mutual care, support, and the fight for justice, in a world still in many ways dark and despairing.  Hope in Jesus whose love was not of dominance but humble healing, liberation, and new life. 

Ultimately, the hope of Christ is the reign of divine love that we, with God make real here and now, but also the real and wondrous and exciting truth of even greater love to come.  O patient, waiting, and expectant hearts, may we too be prophets, for can we not feel it, can we not as we continue our advent journey to Christ Mass (Christmas) light, see the unfolding of the already, the clear promise of a heaven yet to come. (Beausoleil, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “John fulfills Elijah's prophetic ministry,” by John Chrysostom, 547-407 A.D.

"Jesus knew the mind of John who sent them, for he knew, as God knows, our inner thoughts. There he was, actively healing the blind, lame, and many others. He healed not to teach John, who was already convinced, but those who had come to him doubting. Having healed them he said, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.' And then he added pointedly, 'And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.' By saying this Jesus implied that he knew even his questioners' unuttered thoughts. For if he had said simply 'I am he' this would have fallen short of overcoming their unstated sense of being offended. And it would have given fuel to some Jews who were already saying to him, 'You bear record of yourself' (John 8:13). Hence he answered nothing directly concerning his identity but left them to learn of it from the miracles, freeing what he taught from suspicion and making it plainer. Then Jesus gently chided them for being silently offended in him. He made their case for them, leaving it to their own conscience alone to judge, calling no witness of his reprimand other than they themselves who knew what they had been thinking. For it was of their own inward offense that he was thinking when he said, 'Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.' In this way Christ drew them all the more closely to himself." (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 36.2) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 11:2-11 asks “How can we make our hearts ready for him to come, both at Christmas and at the end of time?

Whatever is burdening you, now is the time to cry out to the Lord for healing! He wants you to live in freedom, not under a cloud of grief or resentment or complacency. Remember John’s message: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). God’s grace is at hand for you—today!

“Lord, search my heart and set me free!” (“Meditation on Matthew 11:2-11,” 2025)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that the passage from Isaiah today is from 740-685 BCE and speaks of the restoration of the land to the splendor of Carmen and Sharon. God will be the vindication of Israel, the go’el who takes your part when no one else will. God continues to love us in spite of our behaviour. The reading tells us the farmer has patience for the harvest. We too need patience for the end time and to be what Jesus calls us to be. The early rains and the later rains mentioned by James may be an indication of the letter being written in Israel rather than elsewhere and later. In Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist asks through his disciples if Jesus is the one. Jesus cites works of wonder and speaks about John the Baptist who the people wanted to see as a prophet and noting that anyone in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater. Friar Jude notes that “Kingdom of Heaven” is an indication that the author of a revision of Matthew was done by a converted Pharisee. We dwell in the Kingdom by living in the Love and Law of Jesus.

Fr. Mike Schmitz highlights a secret to holiness visible in Paul’s ability to see his arduous trip to Rome as the will of God. He also clears up confusion in regards to Paul’s direction for wives to be subject to their husbands, again drawing our attention to our call to love and serve while being subject to each other out of reverence for Christ. Today’s readings are Acts 27, Ephesians 4-6, and Proverbs 29:22-24.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, teaches that awe is a foundational spiritual experience that keeps us open to the mystery of God.

I think Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn understood this when he wrote, “The Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive.” [2] It’s a telling judgment. The Western mind almost refuses to be in awe anymore. It’s only aware of what is wrong, and seemingly incapable of rejoicing in what is still good and true and beautiful. The surest way out of that trap is through a new imagination and new cosmology, often created by positive God-experience. Education, problem-solving, and rigid ideology are ultimately inadequate by themselves to create cosmic hope and meaning. Only great religion can do that, which is probably why Jesus spent so much of his ministry trying to reform religion. 

Healthy religion, which always makes space for Mystery, gives us a foundational sense of awe. It re-enchants an otherwise empty universe. It gives people a universal reverence toward all things. Only with such reverence do we find confidence and coherence. Only then does the world become a safe home. Then we can see the reflection of the divine image in the human, in the animal, in the entire natural world—which has now become inherently “supernatural.” [3] (Rohr, n.d.)

Fr. David Gierlach shares a sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent.

We trust the Spirit to fill our hearts with the hope that our faith and care for others will announce the joy and fullness of Life that Jesus shared with the disciples of the Baptist.

References

Beausoleil, K. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-december-14-2025 

Isaiah, CHAPTER 35 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/35?1 

James, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/james/5?7 

Matthew, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?2 

Meditation on Matthew 11:2-11. (2025, December 14). Word Among Us. https://wau.org/meditations/2025/12/14/1445473/ 

Psalms, PSALM 146 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/146?6 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/are-we-open-to-awe/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). They Shall Obtain Joy and Gladness. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Deliverance and Decision

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to examine the deliverance we have experienced from fear and despair and the decisions we need to make to honour our transformation.

Decisions that Transform

The Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah presents Judah’s Praise and Prayer for Deliverance.

* [26:1–19] This text is a mixture of praise for the salvation that will take place, a confession of Judah’s inability to achieve deliverance on its own, and earnest prayer that God may quickly bring about the longed-for salvation.

* [26:1] Strong city: Jerusalem, the antithesis of the “city of chaos” (24:10); see note on 24:1–27:13. (“Isaiah, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB,” 2025)

Psalm 118 describes how the people confidently implored God’s help.

* [Psalm 118] A thanksgiving liturgy accompanying a procession of the king and the people into the Temple precincts. After an invocation in the form of a litany (Ps 118:1–4), the psalmist (very likely speaking in the name of the community) describes how the people confidently implored God’s help (Ps 118:5–9) when hostile peoples threatened its life (Ps 118:10–14); vividly God’s rescue is recounted (Ps 118:15–18). Then follows a possible dialogue at the Temple gates between the priests and the psalmist as the latter enters to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice (Ps 118:19–25). Finally, the priests impart their blessing (Ps 118:26–27), and the psalmist sings in gratitude (Ps 118:28–29).

* [118:22] The stone the builders rejected: a proverb: what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The “stone” may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the Temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ (Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; cf. Is 28:16 and Rom 9:33; 1 Pt 2:7). (“Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB,” 2025)

The Gospel of Matthew presents the True Disciple and compares The Two Foundations.

* [7:21–23] The attack on the false prophets is continued, but is broadened to include those disciples who perform works of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus (Lord) but live evil lives. Entrance into the kingdom is only for those who do the will of the Father. On the day of judgment (on that day) the morally corrupt prophets and miracle workers will be rejected by Jesus.

* [7:24–27] The conclusion of the discourse (cf. Lk 6:47–49). Here the relation is not between saying and doing as in Mt 7:15–23 but between hearing and doing, and the words of Jesus are applied to every Christian (everyone who listens). (“Matthew, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB,” 2025)

Eileen Wirth urges us to remember that we are already members of the Communion of Saints – Christ’s body in action.

The people who believe this are feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, comforting the afflicted, and generally serving the least of our brothers and sisters. They aren’t worrying whether God is noticing. OF COURSE he is! But such people don’t quit helping others when they reach an imaginary celestial minimum point total required to get into heaven. They aren’t martyrs parading their sanctity. They are already, in a sense, living in the Father’s house because they have found their joy and meaning in life by doing his will. I know them and so do you. (Wirth, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Turn your vision to the Savior,” by Verecundus (died 552 AD).

"When Hezekiah, the king of Judah and son of Ahaz, was gravely ill and had learned of his coming death by the prophecy of Isaiah, he turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly (2 Kings 20:1-3). Immediately the Lord in his mercy not only averted the destruction of imminent death but also added fifteen years to the man's life. Then, at last, Hezekiah sang this song (Isaiah 38:10-20). Hezekiah, a holy man who reigned at that time over all of Israel, displayed the Lord's form: clearly he had every movement of body, soul and mind in subjection to himself, and he accepted the consequences of his infirmity and weakness. He knew without doubt through the prophetic message that the end of his life was approaching. For the longer we seem to live, the more indubitably is our future death foreknown to us. And if we turn our face to the wall when struck by the fear of death, that is, if we direct the vision of our hearts to the Savior, who is here represented by the wall because he is elsewhere called 'a wall,' we will be saved, inasmuch as he saves the faithful who dwell within him from a great many attacks. 'In the city of our strength,' says Isaiah, 'is the Savior established as a wall and a fortress' (Isaiah 26:1). Behold, the Savior is said to be a wall." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON THE CANTICLE OF EZEKIEL 5.1-2)

[Verecundus was an African Christian writer and bishop in the 6th century AD.] (Schwager, 2025)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 7:21, 24-27 comments that Jesus wants us to build our whole life on him: our family, our job, our studies, our friendships, our hobbies. But how do we do this? How do we build “on rock” (Matthew 7:24)? We do it by coming to Jesus in prayer and reading the Scriptures. We do it when we seek his wisdom and strength during our day. And we do it when we place our worries and our dreams into his hands. Spending time with the Lord like this every day shows us just how trustworthy he is—and it shows that he is our one true refuge.

Indeed, in this life, we will face hardships. Like the rain, the flood, and the wind that shake a house, a broken relationship, an illness, a financial struggle, or a strong temptation can shake our lives. But if we continue to build our foundation on the Lord and his word, we will not collapse. We will be “set solidly on rock” (Matthew 7:25). We’ll know that we can trust in the Lord because he is good and merciful.

So build your life on Jesus. He can protect you and give you his peace. He is your “eternal Rock” (Isaiah 26:4)!

“Oh Lord, ‘I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me and have been my savior’ (Psalm 118:21).” (“Meditation on Matthew 7:21, 24-27,” 2025)

Friar Jude Winkler comments like the passage from Isaiah yesterday, it likely was not written by Isaiah but incorporated later. The message that  God will protect us from our enemies can be applied today to ourselves and the enemies of fear, selfishness, and sin, that which separates us from Christ will be defeated. Our faith cannot be based on superficial religiosity but on acting as people of integrity. Friar Jude notes that superficial faith, to get something from God, is not the faith that totally surrenders to the will of God and is transforming to our heart. 

Fr. Mike Schmitz reminds us that we live in the same era as the Apostles and have the same Holy Spirit. Just like St. Paul stood out by imitating Jesus and sharing the Gospel, we are called to do the same. Fr. Mike also discusses our duality as both body and soul as it relates to Christ’s resurrection. Today’s readings are Acts 17, 1 Corinthians 15, and Proverbs 28:16-18.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces public theologian Rachel Held Evans (1981–2019) who reflects on how Mary’s yes was pivotal to the Incarnation. She cannot entirely make sense of the storyline: God trusted God’s very self, totally and completely and in full bodily form, to the care of a woman. God needed women for survival. Before Jesus fed us with the bread and the wine, the body and the blood, Jesus himself needed to be fed by a woman. He needed a woman to say: “This is my body, given for you.”… 

 To understand Mary’s humanity and her central role in Jesus’s story is to remind ourselves of the true miracle of the Incarnation—and that is the core Christian conviction that God is with us, plain old ordinary us. God is with us in our fears and in our pain, in our morning sickness and in our ear infections, in our refugee crises and in our endurance of Empire, in smelly barns and unimpressive backwater towns, in the labor pains of a new mother and in the cries of a tiny infant. In all these things, God is with us—and God is for us. And through Mary’s example, God invites us to take the risk of love—even though it undoubtedly opens us up to the possibility of getting hurt, being scared, and feeling disappointed. (Rohr, 2025)  

We seek the Wisdom of the Spirit as we celebrate our deliverance to full life and our decisions to act to support our transformation as Jesus workers in His vineyard.

References

Isaiah, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB. (2025, December 4). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/26?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (2025, December 4). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/7?21 

Meditation on Matthew 7:21, 24-27. (2025, December 4). Word Among Us. https://wau.org/meditations/2025/12/04/1439620/ 

Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB. (2025, December 4). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/118?1 

Rohr, R. (2025, December 4). Courageous Vulnerability. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/courageous-vulnerability/ 

Schwager, D. (2025, December 4). Who Shall Enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Wirth, E. (2025, December 4). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-december-4-2025