THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, DECEMBER 14, 2025
- Maria Knox
- Dec 14, 2025
- 3 min read
Reading 2 James 5:7-10
Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
You too must be patient.
Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged.
Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.
Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
REFLECTION
"Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord."
Can you believe this is the third Sunday of Advent? Two Advent Sundays are behind us and only one Sunday left before Christmas.
The Virgin Mary has been patiently waiting for her Son. The Nascent Jesus has been growing inside His Mother at the right pace. She has been patiently waiting for Him to be born. Soon, but not yet. Hoping, waiting for our Savior.
During Holy Mass, the third candle, the rose candle is lit. The three purple candles represent hope, faith, and love. The pink one, joy. The Church is giving us a foretaste of the happiness that Christmas will bring.
But how can we live with joy and happiness in a world that is falling apart by war, injustice, corruption, hate?...
Dr. Marian Rojas Estape is an Spanish psychiatrist that tells us that in a way we can program our brains to be joyful by learning to think and act in positive ways. She suggests for us to stop filling our heads with news from cable TV and from X feeds, or spend most of our day in scrolling in front of a blue screen. These things increase our levels of cortisone, and make us only think on ourselves. And at the end, we could end up with severe depression.
Dr. Rojas encourages us to "re-wire" our brains and in a way force ourselves into thinking positive outcomes of our words and actions. To think of the good we can do for others, and do it. Not great heroic actions, instead small things such as calling a friend and invite them for coffee, but not to talk about ourselves, and ask about them, and listen to them.
A person that always smiled and put others in front of her was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She lived amongst squalor and poverty, however, her smile is the first thing that comes up into my mind. Given her circumstances, how could she be so joyful? Pope Benedict XVI tells us:
Men and women of every age and social condition, happy to dedicate their existence to others, give us the answer with their lives! Was not Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta an unforgettable witness of true Gospel joy in our time? She lived in touch daily with wretchedness, human degradation and death. Her soul knew the trials of the dark night of faith, yet she gave everyone God's smile. In one of her writings, we read: "We wait impatiently for paradise, where God is, but it is in our power to be in paradise even here on earth and from this moment. Being happy with God means loving like him, helping like him, giving like him, serving like him" (The Joy of Giving to Others, 1987, p. 143). Yes, joy enters the hearts of those who put themselves at the service of the lowly and poor. God abides in those who love like this and their souls rejoice.
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