16 December 2026 · Latin Rite
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“And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”” Luke 7:22
“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up.” This verse became the famous Advent chant Rorate caeli. Heaven and earth cooperate: grace comes down, and the earth (the Virgin's womb) brings forth the Saviour. God says, “There is no other god besides me… Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!”
From prison John sends disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus does not answer with a title but with evidence: the blind see, the lame walk, the poor hear good news, Isaiah's signs fulfilled. “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Even the greatest prophet had to trust a Messiah different from what he expected.
Theme: “Are you the one?”
Heaven rains down the Saviour; John asks from prison; Jesus answers with signs.
“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the LORD have created it.” Isaiah 45:8
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
Apply: Sing or pray the Rorate caeli this week.
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22
“When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’”” Luke 7:20
Apply: Bring an honest doubt to Jesus.
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” Isaiah 35:5
“And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”” Luke 7:22–23
Apply: Do one work of mercy as a sign of Christ.
Christ answers our questions with his works.
Let us become his signs.
Take-home resolution: Visit the poor or sick before Christmas.
Dear friends, Isaiah proclaims: I am the Lord, and there is no other. Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up (Isaiah 45:6, 8). The Church has sung this verse for centuries in Advent as the Rorate caeli: heaven drops down its dew, and the earth gives birth to the Saviour.
God says: turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear (Isaiah 45:22–23). The Saviour is for all nations.
In the Gospel John the Baptist, in prison, sends his disciples to ask Jesus: are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Even John had questions. Jesus answers: go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me (Luke 7:20–23).
Jesus does not give John a theory; he points to signs. Isaiah had foretold them. Where the Messiah is, people are healed and the poor hear good news.
Today too, people ask the Church: are you the one? Is Christ real? The best answer is not argument, but signs: hospitals, schools, care for the poor, families transformed, sinners forgiven, lives given in love. Our deeds must show that the Messiah has come.
Blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me. Some were offended because Jesus was not the Messiah they expected. This Advent, let us accept Jesus as he is, not as we want him to be, and let our lives become signs that he has come. Amen.
Children, Jesus showed who He was by healing and helping people. We show we love Jesus by helping others too!
Rain down, O heavens, the Just One; let the earth bring forth a Saviour. Lord Jesus, when I doubt, show me your works, and keep me from taking offence at your ways. Amen.
Today's first reading gives Advent one of its best-known prayers: “Shower, O heavens, from above.” The God who alone is God promises that righteousness will come down and salvation spring up, and he calls all the ends of the earth to turn to him. In the Gospel John the Baptist sends to ask whether Jesus is the one to come, and Jesus answers by pointing to what is happening: the blind see, and the poor hear good news. Prophecy asks; the Gospel answers.
Setting.
Isaiah 40–55 speaks to the Jews in exile in Babylon. Chapter 45 opens with an astonishing oracle: God calls Cyrus, the Persian king who took Babylon in 539 BC, “his anointed” (45:1), even though Cyrus does not know him (45:4–5). Today's verses draw the conclusion. If the Lord can use a foreign king to bring his people home, he is not one god among many. He is the Creator, and there is no other.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.” (45:7)
This is a statement of God's sovereignty over all that happens, not a claim that he does moral evil. The Hebrew words are šālôm (peace, well-being) and ra‘ (here misfortune, disaster).
“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up” (45:8)
The Latin Vulgate reads the abstract nouns as a person: the clouds rain down “the Just One” and the earth brings forth “a Saviour”. From that wording comes the Advent chant Rorate caeli and today's psalm refrain. Heaven and earth meet: the gift comes from above, and it grows from below.
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (45:22)
Because there is only one God, salvation cannot belong to one nation only. Israel's faith in one God opens outward to the whole world.
““To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”” (45:23)
St Paul applies these words to Jesus: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend” (Philippians 2:10; see also Romans 14:11). It is one of the strongest signs of the earliest Christian faith in Christ's divinity: words spoken by the Lord God are said of him.
How the Church reads it.
The Church has made Isaiah 45:8 her Advent prayer: it is the Entrance Antiphon of the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the source of the chant Rorate caeli. The Catechism teaches on v. 7's question that God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil, though he permits it and can draw good from it (CCC 311).
Setting.
At the end of chapter 3 Luke told us that Herod had shut John up in prison (3:20), and Matthew says plainly that John asks this question from prison (Matthew 11:2). John had announced one who would come with winnowing fork and fire (Luke 3:16–17). His disciples now report what Jesus is doing: he has healed the centurion's servant and raised the widow's son at Nain (7:1–17). This is mercy, not the fire John spoke of. So John asks.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (7:19)
This is the question of Advent itself, and Luke does not hide that it comes from the greatest of the prophets.
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.” (7:22)
Jesus gives no title and makes no claim. He weaves together Isaiah's pictures of the age to come (Isaiah 29:18–19; 35:5–6; 61:1), and John, who knows the Scriptures, will understand. Lepers and the dead are added to what those passages list.
“And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” (7:23)
A gentle word for John and for us. God's way may not be the way we expected. Blessed are those who go on trusting.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus' signs attest that the Father has sent him and invite belief, but that they can also be an occasion for offense (CCC 547–549). It calls John the Lord's immediate forerunner (CCC 523). St John Chrysostom held that John asked for his disciples' sake, to send them to Jesus, and not from doubt of his own (in substance). Many modern readers hear also the real question of a man in prison. Either way, the answer is the same, and it is meant for everyone who has ever asked.
Does Isaiah 45:7 mean God creates evil?
No. “Woe” here means disaster and hardship, in a sentence asserting that nothing lies outside God's rule, against any idea of a rival god of darkness. The Church teaches that God is in no way the cause of moral evil (CCC 311).