December 19 in the Third Week of Advent, 2025

Luke 1, 5-25

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”  Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”

As we draw near to the Feast of Jesus’s Nativity, the Holy Church speaks to us of the Lord’s Precursor, John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus through his preaching and his severe and distinctive manner of life.  Preaching penance, he practiced it as well, though he was certainly in less need of this than the people who came to him to be plunged into the Jordan as a sign of their own contrition for sin.  We might wonder, as we consider this: how should we live penitential lives with our load of sins when this holy man lived as he did?  

Luke tells us of John’s parents, the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth: “Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child.”  This verse sums up the situation for the Jews under the old law.  Obeying the law did not obtain a child, that is, grace, for them — grace, the life of God which sanctifies us and unites us to him.  They did all they were commanded to do, and yet they lay under the curse of childlessness, signifying original sin.  This afflicted them particularly because Zechariah and Elizabeth were descended from Aaron, the first priest of the covenant.  If anyone should have been blessed with children, it was this couple.  “Both were advanced in years”: the Chosen People had long awaited a Redeemer.  Kings had reigned and died, prophets had been raised up and died, and the people could still lament, “Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it has already gone before in the ages that were before us” (Ecclesiastes 1, 10).  

But then one day, Zechariah was chosen to offer incense within the Temple, and “the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense”.  The altar of incense was located in an inner chamber of the Temple, adjacent to, but separate from, the holy of holies, where only the high priest could go, and that only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when coals and incense from the altar of incense were brought there.  The chamber of the altar of incense signifies John the Baptist because it leads to the holy of holies, which signifies the Lord Jesus because it is the place where the high priest would pray for mercy for the people in the presence of God.  The angel Gabriel is said to appear at the right of this altar.  St. Ambrose points out that Luke does not say that God sent Gabriel from heaven to Zechariah, but that Gabriel simply “appeared” to him, as though he had been there all along, but was invisible.  The angel appears at the “right” side of the altar: if the altar represents God, then the angel shows himself as acting and speaking for God with power.

“Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.”  The Virgin Mary was confused by what the angel called her (“perfected with grace”), but Zechariah is troubled by the very sight of him.  Of the two, the old priest and the young virgin, we would expect the first to be most prepared to see an angel.  The fact that it was Mary who was more prepared and composed tells us much about her.  The Fathers agree that the angel must have appeared in human form in order to communicate with Zechariah, but Gabriel must also have shown his angelic nature in some way.  Gabriel tells the priest, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.”  This leads us to think that at the time Zechariah was ministering in the chamber, he was, even in his old age, praying for a child.  This signifies the perseverance of the Jews in the Old Law despite its inability to bestow grace on them.  Gabriel says of the child God will give Zechariah and his wife: “He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.”  The injunction against the drinking of wine or strong drink sets their son apart from the rest of the people as a visible sign of their need to set themselves apart from the world by doing penance.  The prophesy that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb is made in view of what will happen to him when Mary, pregnant with the Son of God, comes to him and his mother.  “He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  The fact that Luke quotes Gabriel as speaking of Elijah is notable because Luke is writing for Gentile Christians for whom the fulfillment of Malachi 4, 5-6 was not important.  It is a sign of the veracity of Luke’s account.  “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”  In understanding what Zechariah means when he asks how he is to “know” this, we ought to understand that the Virgin Mary uses this word when she says to Gabriel, “How will this be, since I do not know man” (Luke 1, 34).  That is, Zechariah is not asking how he will know that this will happen, but how he is to conceive a child with his wife “in her old age” (Luke 1, 36).  This reveals that he has doubts not simply as to their physical ability to do this but even that God could render them capable of it.  This is the reason for Gabriel’s stern reply: “You will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”  Here, we see the sign of the faltering in faith of Israel’s priesthood which will cause the son of Zechariah and our Lord so much hardship.  In some Greek texts Gabriel says that Zechariah would be deaf as well as dumb, conditions which often go together.  That would seem to be the case here, since it is later regarded as miraculous that he understood the question surrounding his son’s name and wrote it on a tablet.

“He was unable to speak to them . . . he was gesturing to them but remained mute.”  The priest came out of the sanctuary unable to tell the people the message from God that he had received.  The priesthood of the old law becomes silent so that the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness” might be heard.

“His wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months.”  Elizabeth withdrew from the world just as it had seemed that God had withdrawn from her life from the time she was married.  Her seclusion was broken only by the arrival of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The reason Elizabeth gives for secluding herself might be put into smoother English: “Thus did the Lord do hide from me before he removed my reproach from before others.”

As the Lord prepared the world by the actions indicated in all the signs in this reading, so he prepares us for his Second Coming.  He reveals to us that the ever-shifting laws and beliefs of this world cannot give us happiness.  He gives us signs that the priests of this world — the advertisers, politicians, movie stars, and proponents of bad science — cannot save us.  We Christians must run from these into a place of seclusion, into the wilderness, where we can repent, do penance, and await our God.

December 17, Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.  Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

During the final seven days before Christmas, beginning on December 17, the Mass prayers and readings focus even more on the truth of the Son of God’s Incarnation and Birth. It is a sort of Holy Week, like that prior to Easter Sunday, as the Church prepares to celebrate the Lord’s Nativity in Bethlehem. We ought to intensify our own preparations, particularly in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but in all penitential and charitable works.

Now,pertaining to the Gospel Reading, for the ancient Jews, a person’s genealogy was a most precious possession.  Its importance surpassed that of the modern driver’s license or passport.  For a Jew at the time of Jesus, genealogy told a person or the world who somebody was: ethnicity, family of origin, and place of origin.  Beyond this, genealogy told what kind of a person somebody was.  Your forebear’s character indicated whether you were honest or a thief, brave or cowardly, generous or greedy.  Altogether, a person’s genealogy explained that person’s meaning.

St. Matthew presents the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth in order to show his meaning, and in order to show that he was born exactly when he should have been and of exactly the right family.  Later, he will show that Jesus was born in exactly the right place.  He does the latter quite convincingly by showing that the scribes themselves knew it was the right place.  In other words, his genealogy, especially when combined with the prophecies, prove that he was the One who is to come, as John the Baptist referred to him on one occasion.  For those who might wonder, knowing one’s genealogy all the way back to the Patriarchs could be compared to modern persons knowing their social security number.  In the days when the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity, a few hundred years before the Birth of Christ, the heads of families had to be able to recite their genealogies back to Jacob in order to demonstrate that they were indeed Jews and to which tribe and clan they belonged.  This allowed them to fit into society and to recover their ancestral property.  

Matthew’s  meticulous recounting of the Lord’s genealogy also made it clear that he, as author of this Gospel, would meticulously narrate the principal events of his life and his teachings.  He, as author, could be trusted to relate and not to invent.  In this way, the genealogy acts as the Evangelist’s preface, or statement of purpose.  St. Luke does something like this in his introduction to his own Gospel when he says that he has looked at many accounts and talked to many witnesses in order to learn the full truth about the life of Christ.

As Christians, the Gospels are our genealogy.  They tell people our meaning, who we are, and what their expectations of us can be.  They tell people that we come from Jesus, formed by his teachings and enlivened by his grace.  They tell people that we live in hope, that we hold to our faith, and that we act in love.  They tell others that as Christ lived, so we strive to live: for the children resemble their parents.  

Tuesday in the Third Week of Advent, December 16, 2025

Matthew 21, 28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

(Sunday night I mistakingly posted a reflection I had written thinking that the next day was Tuesday. I realized my mistake Monday morning and wrote and posted one for the correct day’s Gospel Reading. Rather than post again the reflection I had originally posted I have written a completely new one, which I am posting Monday evening. I’m sorry for the confusion. The days go so fast!)

This parable is unsettling precisely because it refuses to flatter anyone who hears it. Jesus tells it not to sinners on the margins, but to chief priests and elders—to those who know the law, speak the right words, and inhabit positions of religious authority. And he begins disarmingly: “What is your opinion?” He draws them into judgment before revealing that they themselves stand under it.

The first son says what many of us secretly feel: “I will not.” His refusal is blunt, even rude. It lacks polish and piety. But it has one saving feature — it is honest. There is no performance here, no religious varnish. And because it is honest, it can be repented of. Something happens afterward. The son changes his mind. The Greek suggests a real interior reversal, not mere regret but a turning of intention. He goes. He does the will of his father.

The second son is very different. He says all the right things. “Yes, sir.” The words are respectful, even devout. From the outside, he looks like the obedient one. But nothing follows. His obedience exists only in speech. His “yes” is a substitute for action, and once spoken, it seems to satisfy him. There is no change, no movement, no vineyard dust on his hands.

Jesus’ question is simple: Which one did the father’s will? The answer is obvious—and the leaders answer correctly. But in answering, they condemn themselves. For they are the second son.

This is where the parable becomes sharp. Jesus does not accuse them of open rebellion, but of something more dangerous: religious inertia. They say “yes” to God in principle. They assent to righteousness in theory. They speak fluently about obedience. But when the call comes in a concrete form — when John the Baptist appears, calling for repentance—they do not move. They do not change their minds. They do not go.

And then comes the truly scandalous line: “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you.” Not because their sins are smaller — they are not — but because they believed John. They recognized the truth when it confronted them. Their lives were visibly disordered, but their hearts were still capable of turning. They did not confuse words with obedience. When repentance was offered, they took it.

Jesus adds something even more damning: “Even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.” In other words, the leaders were not merely ignorant; they were resistant to evidence of grace. They saw sinners repent. They saw lives change. And still they did not reconsider themselves. They did not allow grace in others to unsettle their self-understanding.

This parable warns us that the most dangerous spiritual state is not outright refusal, but unexamined religious commitment. That is, a spoken “yes” can become a shield against conversion. Familiarity with God can harden into immunity to him. It is possible to say “Lord, Lord” and never enter the vineyard.

At the same time, the parable is full of hope. The first son reminds us that a bad beginning does not doom the end. What matters is not what we once said, but whether we are willing to change when the truth confronts us. God’s will is not fulfilled by correct language, but by lived response.

The Kingdom of God is entered not by those who speak best about obedience, but by those who, sooner or later, get up and go. And sometimes it is those who begin furthest away who arrive first — because they know they must move.

The question Jesus leaves with us is the same one he asked the leaders, though now it is quieter and closer: Which son are you and I becoming — by what we say, or by what we do?

Monday in the Third Week of Advent, December 15, 2025

Matthew 21, 23-27

When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Lord Jesus, having entered Jerusalem with a large crowd of supporters, went directly to the Temple as though to take possession of it.  When he found the usual sellers of animals and money changers in the courtyard, he violently threw them out.  These two actions — his entrance to the city and his suppression of trade in the Temple — alarmed the chief priests and the elders.  They saw that he was challenging their legitimacy and so they accosted him: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?”  As if to say, We did not authorize you to do this.  However, they themselves possessed no authority.  The chief priests were not the descendants of Aaron, as the Law stated they must be.  Annas had been appointed by the Roman procurator when Jesus was just a boy, and he was later deposed.  A few years later, his son-in-law Caiphas was appointed as high priest.  In fact, several men were appointed as high priest and then were deposed by the Romans during this time.  Their authority, such as it was, came not from their office so much as from the Romans.  As for the elders, these were older men who simply assumed a role.  They possessed no authority at all.  These priests and elders have no foundation for demanding that Jesus tell them on what authority he acts.

As though to signify that they have no basis for making demands of him, he does not answer their question, but makes them an offer: “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Clearly, the authority here is Jesus, and the priests and elders acknowledge this by agreeing to his terms.  It is interesting to speculate as to what sort of question they thought he would ask them.  Certainly a theological one, and one they thought they could answer with some vague allusion to the Scriptures.  They were not ready for the question he did ask them: “Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”  The men of no legitimate authority are trapped and they know it.  Quite apart from answering honestly, though, they try to figure out an answer using their cunning.  Their lives might depend on it: “They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.”  With only the appearance of importance and power to back them up, people are concerned with their personal survival and nothing else.  The question the Lord asks is a reasonable one and one which deserved an answer.  But these men were not eager to give one.  The facade of their authority came crashing down if they answered that John’s authority came from God; and the crowd would tear them apart if they responded that it was merely of human origin.  The reply they finally give amounts to a surrender: “We do not know.”  But of all people, they were supposed to know.  And how could the crowd know if they did not?  Their answer confused the crowd so much that they were able to slither away safely.  “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Jesus reaffirms that he owes them nothing.  

The meaning of his coming to the Temple and taking possession of it was to show that the old priesthood — the line of Aaron — had come to an end.  The animals, which were to be sacrificed, were set free, signifying that the sacrifices of the Old Law had come to an end.  Now had arrived the true high priest, restoring not the compromised line of Aaron, but the original line of Melchizedek, and he himself was the new Sacrifice.  When Jesus defeats the priests and elders in this reading, he shows them that a new age was dawning.

The Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025

Matthew 11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.

“Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.”  The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass is found in the context of John the Baptist sending to him two of his disciples with the question, “Are you the one who is to come or are we to look for another?” Now, John knew Jesus was the long-awaited Lamb of God, but he sends his disciples to Jesus to learn the answer for themselves. It is upon the departure of these disciples that the Lord teaches the significance of John to the people. The people hearing Jesus were very disappointed at John’s imprisonment. Many had been baptized by him. Some had thought him to be the Messiah or at least a prophet — such a prophet as was not seen in Israel in hundreds of years.  The Lord here praises John and indirectly he praises the people who followed him. He says to them, John is the greatest of men and he remains the greatest of men even though he has been imprisoned by Herod. 

Despite the reasons for the Lord’s saying this of John may seem elusive to us. In order to understand this we should keep in mind that Jesus was speaking to his fellow Jews, not to a crowd of Romans or Greeks. We should also keep in mind how Jesus defined “greatness”: “He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23, 11). That is, You will recognize who the greatest among you is by his selfless service. 

In what did this selfless service consist? John took on the roles of Forerunner, Herald, and Witness. As the Forerunner of Christ he obeyed the commandments the Angel Gabriel had given to him through his parents, and at a young age left them and his priestly heritage in order to wait in the wilderness for instructions: he “was in the wilderness until the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1, 80). He must have waited and prayed for years until the time came for him to begin his ministry: preaching repentance, baptizing, and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. He did precisely this as the Lord’s Herald, the appointed representative of the Messiah himself. As a herald, nothing superseded the communication of the message entrusted to him, with the result that he pared his life back so that nothing could hinder him. To this end he wore the simplest garment, and one that would not wear out. He also ate the simplest of foods that did not need to be grown,purchased, or prepared. And then, as Witness, John did not merely tell the people that the Lord was coming but he pointed to him when he came: “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1, 36). To sum up, he gave his entire life to God without condition, and he did this though, unlike his father, he received no angelic visitations.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Friday, December 12, 2025

Luke 1, 39-47

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” 

Of the various options available for the Gospel reading for today’s feast, the above is the one I would choose, as it speaks of the Virgin Mary newly pregnant with her Son, for the miraculous image associated with this feast also shows her as pregnant.  

“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.”  She does this after the Angel Gabriel has revealed to her that she is to be the Mother of God.  By the use of the words “in haste”, St. Luke seems to indicate that she left Nazareth very soon after the Annunciation and that she traveled with a certain urgency.  The way Luke tells the story, she was moved to do this by the news of her relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy, with the implication that she had gone to assist her.  It also is reasonable to consider whether her primary intention was to seek instruction from Elizabeth’s husband, the priest Zechariah on what she was to do to prepare for the birth of her Son.  Luke also does not mention how Mary traveled and if she traveled with a caravan or by herself.  The “haste” with which she went would lead us to think she left Nazareth alone.  This is possible, but we are not told one way or the other.  The “haste” also leaves us in no doubt that she had a definite purpose in going.

“She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”  Luke does not tell us that she greeted Zechariah, but he could have been in the house.  His inability to speak at this time would have limited his social life, although he may have sat outside the town by its gate with the other elders and the greeting took place there.  Luke tells us that when Mary came to the house, she went directly into it and then into the room where Elizabeth had secluded herself, for she had “hid herself five months” (Luke 1, 24).  Notable here is the boldness with which the Virgin Mary acted, and also her solicitude for Elizabeth, for we are told that she greeted Elizabeth, not that Elizabeth greeted her, as was proper for the householder to do for a guest.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.”  Joy attends the arrival of the Blessed Virgin and her Son.  This leaping of John the Baptist in his mother’s womb at the visible presence of Mary and the as yet invisible presence of her Son reminds us that where she is, he is.  Where we see the Mother, we see the Son.  It need not have been so, but the Lord God, in his marvelous Providence, chose to come to the human race through a human woman, and he reminds us of the human nature of his Son — the reality that his Son became flesh and did dwell among us — by the presence of his Mother, from whom his Son took his flesh.

“Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice.”  The presence of God, and his presence through the Blessed Virgin, inspires us through the power of the Holy Spirit to praise him.  His presence brings joy to those who love him and yearn for his company.  The appearance of the Virgin guarantees the reality of his presence.  And in this moment, he looks at us through her eyes.  Following the praise of God and of the one who bears him in her womb, Elizabeth wondered aloud, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  Utter humility is the second proper response to the revelation of God’s presence, whether the presence is sacramental, as in the Holy Eucharist, or physically, as here.  This is no false humility at the sight of an earthly king, either.  In the depths of her soul, Elizabeth abased herself and marveled that the Mother of the Lord had come to her.  “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  While Elizabeth calls Mary “blessed” for her faith in the fulfillment of God’s will, she also commends this faith to us as well as the will to carry out God’s will in our lives.  This desire to do God’s will is the third response to the appearance of the Lord through the Virgin.

We see these in the apparitions to Juan Diego which are commemorated in this feast, particularly his obedience to go to the local bishop to make Mary’s command known that a church be built in her honor, despite the skepticism this might invite, and in his humility at the second apparition when he called himself an unfit instrument for carrying out her desire.   

On this feast day, let us honor her who honored our Lord with the complete giving of herself, and who has given him to us.

Thursday in the Second Week of Advent, December 11, 2025

Matthew 11, 11-15

Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

John the Baptist, for years a fiery scourge lashing out against sin, injustice, and the corrupt in high places, now sits in Herod’s dungeon.  He knows his time on earth is rapidly closing.  He spends his days in prayer and in conversing with his persevering followers who visit.  Now and then, Herod himself comes, for “Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man: and kept him in his mind, and when he heard him, wondered much: but he heard him gladly” (Mark 6, 20).  This in spite of the fact that he had imprisoned John for rebuking him for his invalid marriage to his dead brother’s widow.

Into this dungeon filtered news of the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, and John eagerly listened to it.  It delighted him to hear of the preaching of the Kingdom of God, for he knew that the salvation of Israel was near.  And in the midst of his physical sufferings, he was consoled in knowing that he had helped to prepare the way for the Savior.  He could truly say, as St. Paul would say many years later, “For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. ” (2 Timothy 6-7).  Still, one work remained to do: to send off the last of his disciples to the Lord Jesus.  They would not go easily.  Many clung to him even in his imprisonment.  Some had assisted him for years.  But sending them to Jesus would be the greatest gift he could give them, for it was for Jesus that he had come.

He sent his most trustworthy, stalwart disciples to the Lord with a question which was for their own benefit: “Are you the one who is to come or do we await another?”  The Lord replied with an answer equally for their benefit: “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”  As if to say to John’s disciples, See with your own eyes.

It is after these disciples leave that Jesus speaks in praise of John: “Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.”  This statement must have raised the eyebrows of his hearers, for Jesus named John ahead of Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets.  It was a sort of blasphemy.  The Lord then coupled this with, “Yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  St. Jerome explains that any saint already in heaven is in every way “greater” than even the “greatest” living on the earth: happier, more agile, wiser, immortal, and so on.  Jesus speaks in this way using the very great John whom the people continue to esteem, to teach about the Kingdom to which they were also called. 

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence.”  That is, in the short time beginning with the preaching of John the Baptist until the present moment.  During these few years the Kingdom of heaven has been revealed and John and Jesus have preached repentance to the people so that they might enter it.  The Prophets had preached repentance to the people so that Jerusalem might be saved, but this repentance paved the way for salvation in heaven.  Repentance meant fasting, donning hair shirts, sitting in ashes, loudly beseeching God for mercy — it meant doing violence to oneself.  “The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent are taking it by force.”  That is, the formerly complacent have risen up and broken their own wills in order to do God’s and in this way “storm” heaven.  Jesus uses a rhetorical device here: the people do not violently take heaven; heaven violently takes the people.  This began only with the preaching and the example of John the Baptist.

“All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.”  The time of the Old Covenant, a sign, has come to an end, and it is transformed — fulfilled — into a New Covenant not sealed by the blood of animals “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled”(1 Peter 1, 19).  

“And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.”  John the Baptist revealed Jesus as the Lamb of God, and Jesus reveals John as Elijah, and shows that the last prophecy of the last prophet of the Old Covenant has been fulfilled: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  Elijah had lived in the wilderness and rebuked kings and the people for their idolatry.  Famously, he had challenged the priests of Baal to call down fire from heaven upon their sacrifices.  The priests called upon their god with all their might, but with no result.  When Elijah called upon the true God to send fire upon the sacrifice offered to him, a ferocious fire leapt down upon the earth.  At the end of his life, Elijah was carried off into the sky by a fiery chariot.  According to Malachi’s prophecy, Elijah would return “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  That is, the coming of the Lord Jesus, who has ushered in the final “day”, or age.  John, though, is no reincarnated Elijah, or Elijah in disguise, but a man in the true spirit of Elijah, a true man of God, fearless, relentless, without doubts, ready to challenge kings, and harder on himself than on the worst sinner who came to him.  We ought to consider the great men and women of history and ponder the fact that of them all, John the Baptist was the greatest.

“Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  That is, Listen!  Pay attention!

Just as Elijah prefigured John the Baptist, we who are members of the Body of Christ, prefigure Jesus, preparing the world for his Second Coming with the preaching of repentance we make with our words and deeds.