December 14, 2025 Matthew 11: 2-11 Today Advent hope breaks into joy. The opening words of the Mass invite us to Rejoice in the Lord Always [for] ‘the Lord is near’. In today’s first reading the prophet Isaiah addresses the Israelites in a dark period of their history and he describes an unimaginable transformation of their situation which will be brought about by God [who] ‘comes to save you’. He calls for confidence in God’s transforming action which will bring wholeness to the people so that the lame will walk, the blind will see etc. Likewise, the apostle James addresses Christians who are possibly despondent at the delayed second coming of Christ. Like Isaiah, James encourages the people to have faith in this coming and, in the meantime, to prepare for it with patience and by living as Jesus taught them. All of this comes together in the Gospel. From his prison cell, John the Baptist hears that Jesus is proclaiming the Kingdom of God in a way quite different from his own: he is doing what Isaiah foretold – healing the sick, embracing the outcast etc. So, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one […]