Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 11:2-11
December 11, 2022 | Sunday

Today’s Gospel

When John the Baptist heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent a message by his disciples, asking him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus answered them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the poor hear the good news; and how fortunate is the one who does not take offense at me!”

As the messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “When you went out to the desert, what did you expect to see? A reed swept by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? People who wear fine clothes live in palaces. What did you really go out to see? A prophet? Yes, indeed, and even more than a prophet. He is the man of whom Scripture says: I send my messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way before you.

I tell you this: no one greater than John the Baptist has arisen from among the sons of women; and yet, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Today’s Reflection:

The entrance antiphon on Gaudete Sunday exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always because the Lord is near. Beneath the exhortation to rejoice lie some desolating situations that are somehow remedied at the profound conviction that the Lord journeys with us and help us get out of these situations. This is the case in our First Reading in which Isaiah’s words of comfort enabled the exiled Israelites to decipher the presence of the Lord in their midst. They remained hopeful and stayed optimistic despite their brokenness and suffering.

To some extent, we are also experiencing some moments of desolation. An untimely passing away of a loved one, a chronic and deadly disease, a human or natural catastrophe that wiped out our properties… these and many others are examples of desolating moments in life. It is during these moments that we are particularly exhorted to rejoice in the Lord.

Ironically, rejoicing in the Lord does not denote that we ignore these painful moments. Rather, it means that we should get more and more receptive to the nearness of the Lord. We must decipher how the Lord works during the desolating moments in life. Once we can recognize the Lord in the face of sufferings, we shall find ourselves getting inwardly joyful despite our desolating moments.

The trouble comes when we fail to decipher the Lord in the low moments in life. One of the hindrances to recognizing the Lord in our midst is our limited image or expectation of him. This is somehow illustrated in the Gospel Reading. John the Baptist—who has been put behind bars for openly criticizing King Herod’s unlawful marriage with his brother’s wife (cf. Mt 14:3)—doubts whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah. He had expected a David-like leader who would liberate the Jewish people from the Romans, but Jesus turned out to be an advocate for peace and a promoter of a Kingdom of God—a Kingdom whose concerns go beyond this world.

Jesus responds by letting John know how the comforting words of the Prophet Isaiah finds fulfilment in his ministry (First Reading). Somehow, his response is meant to get John out of his rather fixed and limited image of the Messiah—an image that has metaphorically imprisoned him. Similarly, the Lord’s response intends to free us from our tendency to get fixated on our image or understanding of the Lord.

We must bear in mind that disappointments resulting from our failure to recognize God in our sufferings and low moments in life can make us lose hope and lead to depression. Of great help in this regard is for us to realize that God cannot be confined in our limited imaginations and reasonings. While God goes beyond human reason and imagination, he is ever-present in our midst. He in fact permeates our world—the world which according to a poet is charged with the grandeur of God.

The challenge lies in how we make ourselves receptive to his presence. Prayers are of great help. And so is listening to the Lord. In order that we may truly listen to Him, we must dispose ourselves to silence not just in moments of sadness but also in moments of happiness. /Vulnerasti, 2022