(Victor Meirelles, St John the Baptist in Prison, National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, 1852)
Sunday, 14 December 2025
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT – YEAR A
Commentary on the Sunday Gospel
Mt 11:2-11
The Laudato Si’ Journey that accompanies the Sundays of Advent towards the Lord’s Christmas, on this “Gaudete” Sunday, offers us a taste of the joy of Christmas. The rose-coloured vestments, and no longer purple, remind us that we do not have to wait for a fixed date to meet the newborn Jesus, but that every day can be a kairos that changes our lives.
As last Sunday, today’s central character is John the Baptist, an icon of our state of mind during Advent. The curious thing is that today we risk being disappointed, as we are when we see a former footballer playing in charity matches or hear a singer who has lost his former vocal power over the years.
John, who once proclaimed a baptism of conversion with his cries in the desert, will today confront his own expectations, his own self, and the sincerity of his humility, and he still has much to tell us about our life of faith and our relationship with God.
‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?’. The only thing the Baptist can do from prison is ask a question. It is wonderful to see how the true prophet, through his disciples, does not stand there dispensing wisdom, but lives sincerely in an attitude of waiting, which is the hallmark of all the prophets of the Old Testament, of whom he represents the culmination and conclusion.
The Baptist’s question expresses doubt. Human beings, by their very nature, are curious; those who are not curious are dead, at least inwardly. John allows himself to be caressed by doubt because he is a prophet through and through. Christ manifests himself with an attitude and language that are foreign to him, because they are ultimately God’s attitude and language. If there had been full adherence to the predictions, it would have been adherence to his ideas, and not to God! Therefore, John’s doubt confirms his greatness. God always dreams bigger than our most beautiful dreams.
But in our lives, do we wait for another? Are we comfortable with the idols we make for ourselves, with God in our own image and likeness, or do we allow ourselves to be surprised by him? Jesus’ answer opens us to the truth, allowing us to experience with our senses what can be witnessed. Faith is born from a real encounter; there is nothing to explain: ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see‘. In the miracles described, the healing of the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor, there is a synthesis of Christ’s actions with humanity wounded by sin and fragility.
And here there is room for a beatitude, outside Chapter 5 and the Sermon on the Mount: ‘And blessed is he who finds no cause for scandal in me! Who is blessed? Here is the answer to the Baptist’s doubt, insofar as he accepts God’s self-emptying and accepts him not only in the power of miracles, but also in his poverty of spirit, in his meekness, and in the self-portrait of the Beatitudes. If John is not scandalised by God’s poverty, then he is blessed. If we are not scandalised to find God in the poor, in creation that cries out, in the human and fragile priest, then we too share in the blessedness of the prophet.
“What did you go out to see in the desert?” The question that Jesus asks the crowds is also directed at us today. When we focus our gaze on men, on good parish priests or friars, or interesting preachers; when our gaze stops at stories of saints or blessed ones, or at the fascinating figure of the Pope, and we take God for granted. When we ask saints for miracles, or thank them for graces received, it is as if Jesus invites us all this Sunday to see things in their proper perspective. “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Let us pray to the Lord that this Sunday he may help us to live with true humility, in the words of St Francis of Assisi, who said: “Blessed is the servant who is found as humble among his subjects as he would be among his masters. Blessed is the servant who always keeps himself under the rod of correction. He is a faithful and prudent servant who does not delay in punishing himself for all his sins, inwardly through contrition and outwardly through confession and works of reparation” (FF 173).
We wish you a blessed Advent Sunday!
Laudato si’!
Thank you, Antonio… Like John the Baptist, our bliss also consists in accepting God’s stripping away. We can all be blessed! Beautiful.
Grazie Daniel, I sincerely wish you this happiness!
Have a nice Sunday, Antonio. That’s a very nice comment. It’s reassuring to know that even John the Baptist had to understand the figure of Jesus.
How difficult it is, dear John, to understand this figure of renunciation…
Humility is Truth (said St Teresa of Avila) and here we see the humility of the Baptist. He is willing to question the one he recognised as the ‘One who is to come’ in utter humility. Prepared to put his own ego side and fully seek Jesus. May we all do the same in this Incarnational season.
Grazie Angela, Humility is the only key that allows us to look into the cave of Bethlehem. I hope that during this Advent season you will find this key. I hope so for myself, and for everyone!
Bonsoir M. Antonio et merci je ne me souviens plus Bien dans quelle lecture de l’église où le seigneur dit: à chaque fois que vous avez rendu service à un pus petit c’est à moi que vous l’avez fait , et où il remercie des gens en disant j’avais faim vous m’avez donné a mangé j’avais soif vous m’avez donné à boire, j’étais nu et vous m’avez habillé. tout celà rejoint l’humilité dont nous parles ces paragraphes l’humilité est une vertue qui englobe plusieurs autres à l’instar de l’amour,de la petitesse,… Une vertue très importante dans la vie d’un chrétiens . merci encore monsieur Antonio
Grazie Colette, L’humilité est la vertu qui nous permet d’ouvrir les yeux et de contempler le mystère de la grotte de Bethléem, lieu par excellence de l’humilité de Dieu, qui se dépouille de tout pour s’incarner. Bon cheminement dans l’humilité!
Faith is truly born from real encounters.
Sometimes, we experience Jesus’s surprises. These surprises build up the faith we already have in Jesus. It not out of place to ask questions when we are in doubt. It’s for clarity purposes.
I agree, dear Felicia, it is not a mistake to have doubts, especially when they open us up to surprises. I wish you an Advent full of surprises in faith!
Bonsoir M. Antonio et merci je ne me souviens plus Bien dans quelle lecture de l’église où le seigneur dit: à chaque fois que vous avez rendu service à un pus petit c’est à moi que vous l’avez fait , et où il remercie des gens en disant j’avais faim vous m’avez donné a mangé j’avais soif vous m’avez donné à boire, j’étais nu et vous m’avez habillé. tout celà rejoint l’humilité dont nous parles ces paragraphes l’humilité est une vertue qui englobe plusieurs autres à l’instar de l’amour,de la petitesse,… Une vertue très importante dans la vie d’un chrétiens . merci encore monsieur Antonio
Let’s be patient and wait for the Lord, not only for this Christmas but in our life.
Grazie Benson, only with patience can we prepare our hearts for the encounter. Not only at Christmas, but every day of our lives…
“Dieu a des rêves plus grands que les nôtres” c’est trop beau cette affirmation.
Merci pour ces enseignements et accompagnement vers Noël. Dans l’attente de la venue du Christ, nous sommes bien nourris 👌🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿😘
Grazie Nathalie, Je te souhaite de vivre les rêves de Dieu…