✉️Epistle (Rom 15, 4-13)
Brethren: For what things soever were written were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: That with one mind and with one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles is to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles and will sing to thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles: and magnify him, all ye people. And again Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Ghost.
Brethren: For what things soever were written were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: That with one mind and with one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles is to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles and will sing to thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles: and magnify him, all ye people. And again Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Ghost.
✠Gospel (Mt 11, 2-10)
At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to Him: Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. 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. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me. And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to Him: Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. 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. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me. And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
🧱Messianic certainty and interior healing
On this Second Sunday of Advent, the liturgy confronts us with the apparent doubt of John the Baptist and the resounding answer of Christ, revealing the divine pedagogy to strengthen our faith. Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, clarifies in his homilies that John did not send his disciples because he doubted Jesus' identity—after all, he himself had baptized Him and seen the Spirit descend upon Him—but so that his disciples, whose eyes were still veiled, could see the works of the Messiah and believe. Christ does not answer with theoretical definitions, but points to the reality of transformation: the blind see, the lame walk, and the poor are evangelized. Saint Augustine reminds us that these physical miracles are visible signs of invisible realities; true blindness is ignorance of God, and true paralysis is the inertia in practicing charity. Advent is, therefore, the time to cry out for the healing of these spiritual infirmities. As the Apostle teaches in the Epistle, the Scriptures are a source of patience and comfort, sustaining the theological virtue of Hope. The Church, as the new Jerusalem, welcomes both Jews and Gentiles, uniting them in mercy. The Catechism and tradition remind us that preparing the way of the Lord requires us to strip off the "soft garments" of worldly vanity and imitate the firmness of John, who was not a "reed shaken by the wind," but a pillar of truth. May we, in this sacred season, allow Christ to perform the works of His grace in us, raising us from the death of sin to the life of virtue.
On this Second Sunday of Advent, the liturgy confronts us with the apparent doubt of John the Baptist and the resounding answer of Christ, revealing the divine pedagogy to strengthen our faith. Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, clarifies in his homilies that John did not send his disciples because he doubted Jesus' identity—after all, he himself had baptized Him and seen the Spirit descend upon Him—but so that his disciples, whose eyes were still veiled, could see the works of the Messiah and believe. Christ does not answer with theoretical definitions, but points to the reality of transformation: the blind see, the lame walk, and the poor are evangelized. Saint Augustine reminds us that these physical miracles are visible signs of invisible realities; true blindness is ignorance of God, and true paralysis is the inertia in practicing charity. Advent is, therefore, the time to cry out for the healing of these spiritual infirmities. As the Apostle teaches in the Epistle, the Scriptures are a source of patience and comfort, sustaining the theological virtue of Hope. The Church, as the new Jerusalem, welcomes both Jews and Gentiles, uniting them in mercy. The Catechism and tradition remind us that preparing the way of the Lord requires us to strip off the "soft garments" of worldly vanity and imitate the firmness of John, who was not a "reed shaken by the wind," but a pillar of truth. May we, in this sacred season, allow Christ to perform the works of His grace in us, raising us from the death of sin to the life of virtue.
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here