12 December 2026 · Latin Rite
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“I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased.” Matthew 17:12
Sirach praises Elijah: “a prophet like fire, and his word burned like a torch”. Taken up in a whirlwind, he is destined to return “to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob” (cf. Malachi 4:5–6). Coming down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, the disciples ask about this. Jesus answers that Elijah has already come, in John the Baptist, “and they did not recognize him”; the Son of Man too will suffer.
Today the Church in the Americas honours Our Lady of Guadalupe, who appeared in 1531 to St Juan Diego near Mexico City, as a young mestiza woman speaking his language, leaving her image on his cloak (tilma). Within a few years millions of indigenous people were baptised. Like Elijah, like John, Mary prepares the way for Christ and turns hearts. Her image shows her pregnant: Advent in a picture, carrying Christ to a whole people.
Theme: “Elijah has already come.”
Elijah's fire, John's unrecognised coming, and Mary who carries Christ to a people.
“Then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire, and his word burned like a torch.” Sirach 48:1
“With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17
Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit to set your words on fire for good.
“Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5–6
“He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”” Matthew 17:11–12
Apply: Reconcile with a family member before Christmas.
“When they met her, they all blessed her with one accord and said to her, “You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the great boast of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation!”” Judith 15:9
“A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Revelation 12:1
Apply: Pray the Rosary for unborn children.
God sends messengers to turn our hearts.
Mary brings Christ to us this Advent.
Take-home resolution: Pray for the protection of unborn children this Advent.
Dear friends, Sirach remembers the prophet Elijah: then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire, and his word burned like a torch (Sirach 48:1). He was taken up in a whirlwind of fire, and the tradition said he would return to turn the hearts of parents to their children (Sirach 48:9–10).
In the Gospel, as they come down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, the disciples ask Jesus about Elijah. Jesus answers: Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him, but did to him whatever they pleased. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking about John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10–13).
John came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Both were men of fire: they spoke the truth whatever the cost. Both called the people back to God. Both suffered for it.
Today is also the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1531 Mary appeared to a poor indigenous man, St Juan Diego, near Mexico City, as a young mother, dressed like his own people, expecting a child (T). Through her, millions came to faith. She is patroness of the Americas and of the unborn.
Elijah and John prepared the way by fiery words; Mary at Guadalupe prepared the way with a mother's tenderness. God uses both fire and gentleness to turn hearts.
Elijah was to turn the hearts of parents to their children. This is a great need today: parents too busy for their children, children too distant from their parents. This Advent, let us turn our hearts to our families: time, attention, forgiveness. And let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect all mothers and their unborn children. Amen.
Children, Mary appeared to a poor man named Juan Diego and spoke his language. Mary loves every people and every child!
Lord God, you sent Elijah and John to prepare your way, and Mary to bring your Son to every people. Turn my heart to you and to my family, and let me recognise your messengers. Amen.
Earlier this week Jesus spoke of John as the Elijah who was to come. Today the Church goes back to Elijah himself, in the fiery words of Sirach, and then to Jesus’ answer on the way down from the mountain of the Transfiguration: “Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him.” The psalm prays, “let your face shine, that we may be saved.” Advent asks us whether we would recognise God’s messenger if he stood in front of us.
Setting.
Jesus ben Sira was a Jewish teacher at Jerusalem around 180 BC, and his grandson later translated the book into Greek in Egypt. It is one of the deuterocanonical books, received by the Catholic Church as Scripture. Chapters 44–50 are a long “praise of famous men” which runs through Israel’s history. Elijah’s turn comes after a time of decline under the kings.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire, and his word burned like a torch.” (48:1)
“At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.” (48:10)
Sirach is drawing on Malachi. The angel uses the same words about John the Baptist: “to turn the hearts of parents to their children” (Luke 1:17).
“Happy are those who saw you and were adorned with your love! For we also shall surely live.” (48:11)
A note on the text. This verse is damaged in the Hebrew and the versions differ. The NRSV says “we also shall surely live”; the POC says “they will live”. The hope is clear in either case.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that John is “Elijah [who] must come”: the fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord (CCC 718). The East and West both honour Elijah as the model of the prophet on fire with zeal for God, and the Carmelite tradition looks to him as a father. Fire in Scripture also points to the Spirit who comes at Pentecost (Acts 2:3).
Setting.
Peter, James and John have just seen Jesus transfigured, with Moses and Elijah beside him (17:1–8). Coming down, they ask the natural question: the scribes teach, from Malachi, that Elijah must come first. If the end is here, where is Elijah?
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”” (17:10)
It is a fair question, and the scribes were reading the prophet correctly. What they lacked was the recognition of its fulfilment.
“but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”” (17:12)
Matthew has told how Herod Antipas had John killed (14:1–12). “They” here means those in power who rejected him, and not a people. The messenger’s fate foreshadows that of the Master.
“Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.” (17:13)
How the Church reads it.
St Gregory the Great explains that John was Elijah in spirit and not in person (in substance), which is also how the angel puts it: “with the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). The Church sees in John’s path the pattern of Christian witness: to prepare the way, to be rejected if necessary, and to point beyond oneself.
Today many Latin Catholics keep the memory of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to the tradition, in December 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac near what is now Mexico City, Mary appeared to St Juan Diego, an Indigenous convert, and spoke to him in his own language, Nahuatl. Her image on his cloak is still venerated in the basilica there. St John Paul II canonised Juan Diego in 2002. Such appearances are private revelations, which add nothing to the deposit of faith but may help us live it (CCC 67). Like Elijah and John, she is sent to prepare the way, and she points to her Son.