THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT December 14, 2025

Readings: Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11

Every year we hear these wonderful readings from the Scriptures of our faith. We hear the Prophet Isaiah proclaiming over and over that salvation is coming, that things will be differing, that “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return.”

Yet our world seems not different at all! When we look at our human history, the same realities of violence, greed, lust, power, domination, and quest for wealth go on over and over and over. The poor are always oppressed. We humans don’t really seem to care about the blind or the deaf, unless there is some money it for us. We humans have never made a great human success of the world. Instead, we find over and over that the wealthy get more wealth and the powerful rule the nations. Sure, once in a while we find a saint, either in our own Catholic tradition or in some other great religion or just a great person who seems to love.

At the level of our personal lives, we find the same incapacity always to do what is right and what is good. We often choose to do the right thing or choose to try to be good—yet we find ourselves not living up to our own choices! In this darkness that surrounds us all, we can surely long for a Redeemer! We have to be aware that Jesus comes to redeem us but He does not promise to change the world! He promises to change those who follow Him and that is quire different. The changes that we want in our world depend on us.

How do we live? Do we help the blind to see? Do we help the deaf to hear? Are we people who bring life to others and who bring good tidings to all? This is Christ’s invitation to us in this Advent. Our own personal lives can only be all that is possible when we are doing the will of God. Once we begin to look for His will and to try to do it, all our other ambitions begin to fade and our values take their rightful places in our lives. So today, this third Sunday of Advent, we are invited once more to follow the Lord and to know that this will transform our life entirely. Let us walk in this path with love and confidence and see what the Lord has planned for us! Let us thank Him and bless His name.

                 Fr. Terry.