Wednesday, December 16, 2026 — Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Go and tell John what you have seen
Luke 7:18b-23
Readings of the day: Isaiah 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25; Psalm 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14; Luke 7:18b-23.
The Gospel
From prison, John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” While they are there, Jesus heals many of their diseases and gives sight to the blind. Then he answers: go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them. “And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Reflection
John asked from prison, in the dark, and Jesus did not answer him with a title or an argument. He answered with deeds, and let the deeds speak: the prophets had said these things would mark the coming of the Lord, and here they were happening. “He said not positively to them I am he,” says St. Cyril, “but rather leads them to the certainty of the fact.” Faith does not always get the explanation it asks for; it gets the works of God to look at. And there is a warning at the end for every Advent: “The full assurance of faith is the cross of the Lord,” says St. Ambrose, “for the cross may cause offence, even to the elect.” Blessed are those who are not scandalized when God comes in a way they did not expect, even by way of the cross.
From the Fathers
“He said not positively to them I am he, but rather leads them to the certainty of the fact, in order that receiving their faith in Him, with their reason agreeing thereto, they might return to him who sent them.”
— St. Cyril of Alexandria, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 7:18–23
“The full assurance of faith is the cross of the Lord, His death and burial. Hence He adds, And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me. For the cross may cause offence, even to the elect.”
— St. Ambrose, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 7:18–23
Saint of the day
Saint Adelaide of Burgundy (c. 931–999), Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto I, with whom she was crowned in Rome in 962. As regent for her young grandson Otto III she governed the empire, founded monasteries and churches, and gave generously to the poor. She died on 16 December 999 at Seltz and was canonized in 1097; her feast is kept on December 16, especially in the German dioceses.
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Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 189). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on Luke 7:18–23, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).