11 December 2026 · Latin Rite
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“Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Matthew 11:19
God speaks with a father's longing: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river.” God's commandments are not burdens imposed from outside; they are the way to peace that flows like a river.
Jesus compares his generation to sulky children in the marketplace who will play neither wedding nor funeral. John came fasting, and they said he had a demon; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they called him “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”. Some hearts will find an excuse against any messenger. But “wisdom is vindicated by her deeds”: the fruit of God's work shows its truth. Advent asks us to stop making excuses and to respond.
Theme: “O that you had paid attention!”
God teaches for our good; excuses refuse every messenger; wisdom shows in deeds.
“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17–18
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Mark 1:3
Apply: Read one commandment with the Catechism today.
“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:1–2
“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’” Matthew 11:16–17
Apply: Drop one excuse you use with God.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Matthew 11:19
Apply: Befriend someone others avoid.
Stop excusing; start responding.
Let God's wisdom show in your deeds.
Take-home resolution: Make an Advent examination on the Ten Commandments.
Dear friends, God speaks through Isaiah like a sad father: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea (Isaiah 48:17–18).
God's commandments are not burdens to restrict us; they are a teacher's guidance for our own good. When we ignore them, we lose the river of peace he wanted to give us.
In the Gospel Jesus compares his generation to children in the marketplace: we played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn. John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, look, a glutton and a drunkard (Matthew 11:16–19).
Whatever God does, some people find an excuse not to respond. John was too strict; Jesus was too friendly. The real problem was not John or Jesus; it was hearts that did not want to change.
We too can be like those children. The homily is too long; the priest is too strict; the Church is not modern enough; I will pray when life is easier. Behind our complaints, there is often a heart that does not want to be disturbed.
Jesus ends: wisdom is vindicated by her deeds (Matthew 11:19). The proof of faith is its fruit. This Advent, let us stop making excuses and let God's word lead us in the way we should go. Then our peace will be like a river. Amen.
Children, God's commandments are like a loving teacher who wants you to be happy. Obey them with joy!
Lord my God, you teach me for my good and lead me in the way I should go. Free me from the excuses that keep me from responding, and let my life show the wisdom of your ways. Amen.
Today’s readings share one sad note: what might have been. Through Isaiah God sighs over a people who would not listen: “O that you had paid attention to my commandments!” Psalm 1 sets the two ways side by side. In the Gospel Jesus compares his generation to sulking children who will not join any game. God is not hard to please; it is we who find reasons not to answer.
Setting.
Chapter 48 closes the first part of the Book of Consolation (Isaiah 40–48), which has been speaking of Cyrus and the fall of Babylon. Just after our passage comes the call “Go out from Babylon” (48:20). Before sending the people home, God looks back on why they were in exile.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go.” (48:17)
God’s commandments are not a test to catch us out. They are the teaching of someone who wants our good.
“O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea;” (48:18)
This is the voice of disappointed love. The river never stops and the waves keep coming: that was the life God wanted to give.
“your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains;” (48:19)
This recalls the promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17). God’s promise has not been withdrawn: the very next verses send the people home.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls the moral law the work of divine Wisdom, “fatherly instruction, God’s pedagogy”, which shows the ways that lead to the promised beatitude (CCC 1950). Isaiah’s God who “teaches you for your own good” is the same. In Advent these words are a call to examine our conscience before Christmas: not to despair over what might have been, but to listen today.
Setting.
Jesus is still speaking about John the Baptist (11:7–19). He compares “this generation” to children in a marketplace, playing at weddings and funerals. Some children call out, and the others will not play either game. So people reject John as too severe and reject Jesus as too friendly.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’” (11:17)
Flute for a wedding, wailing for a funeral. John’s call to repentance is the dirge; Jesus’ meals with sinners are the wedding.
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;” (11:18)
“the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”” (11:19)
A note on the text. Some manuscripts read “by her children”, as in Luke 7:35. The reading “deeds” is the better attested in Matthew, and it recalls “the deeds of the Messiah” in 11:2. The insult “friend of tax collectors and sinners” is, without meaning to be, a true description of him.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism notes that Jesus scandalised the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves (CCC 588). That table continues in the Eucharist. The passage warns us not to make God fit our own taste: he comes in the way he chooses, in the austere voice of John and in the warm welcome of Jesus.
Is Jesus blaming the Jewish people here?
No. “This generation” means those who refused to answer him, and many of his own people did answer: all his first disciples were Jews. The Church firmly rejects any such blame (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597–598). The words are addressed to us, who also find excuses.