Readings and meditation on the Word of God on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025

Delivered by Keisha, Claudia, Reinaldy, and Kathleen from the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Isaiah 35: 1-6a.10; Rs psalm 146: 7.8-9a.9bc-10; James 5: 7-10; Matthew 11: 2-11.GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD Our meditation onthis Third Sunday of Advent is entitled: God Is Always Good. On this thirdSunday of Advent usually as members of the Church we have a joyful celebration.Church tradition guides us to celebrate it as "Gaudete Sunday" or"Joyful Sunday" because its liturgical messages reveal the very nearcoming of the Lord. In the preparation towelcome His coming, today the three holy readings together convey the fact thatthe Lord really comes to do good to us. Since the first human's fall into sinand the beginning of the Divine promise for the salvation of mankind fromslavery of sin, the message of God's coming has always been a good news. For us his comingmeans he is always kind to us. If He is only in a distant and unreachableHeaven, God's goodness is doubtful. The third Sunday of Advent as a joyful day,because we feel, we remember, and we believe that God is always good to us. Hedoes not have the intention to keep His goodness to Himself, but is given andprovided for us. A housewife calledher husband who was on his way to work. It was a sudden news and must beresponded to immediately. Their four-year-old child crashed and fell on thestairs. The wife panicked and she urgently needed her husband. The husband whohas just arrived at work should return soon because of his child's severecondition. They immediately took the child to the hospital for an intensivemedical treatment. This man's action isan example of reaching out the problem and immediately solving it. In His actsof love, God always comes to us who have various kinds of problem andsuffering. He is the savior and giver of solutions for our lives. He overcomesour difficulties and sufferings. He cannot bear with our situation. The firstreading and the gospel of today clearly show such situation and God’s decissiveand immediate action to humans. God is our helper and our savior. God's coming for usalso means to complete what we still lack. Perhaps we still lack enough hopeand longingness for God. Perhaps there is still emptiness within us. SaintJames encourages us that God will soon come to fulfill this lack. And when itwas confirmed that Jesus was indeed the promised Lord who had come, John theBaptist along with his disciples and all of us really experience a veryopportune moment to come to the fullness of life. Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O God, may our joy on this third Sunday of Advent strengthen ourpreparation to celebrate the coming Christmas, the anniversary of the birth ofJesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our Father who art in heaven ... In the nameof the Father ...