{"id":5186,"date":"2025-12-11T20:31:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/?p=5186"},"modified":"2025-12-26T21:16:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T21:16:36","slug":"third-sunday-of-advent-a-maryknoll-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/third-sunday-of-advent-a-maryknoll-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Sunday of Advent: A Maryknoll Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sarah Bueter, MKLM<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is. 35:1-6a, 10 | Jas. 5:7-10 | Mt. 11:2-11<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. \u2014 <\/em>Matthew 1:11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this Sunday\u2019s reading from the Gospel According to Matthew, John the Baptist waits in expectation from his prison cell. He receives reports about Jesus and wonders, \u201cIs this the guy we\u2019ve been waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the hype, Jesus is making straight forward things happen: \u201cthe blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.\u201d (Mt. 11:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I imagine the incredulity of John the Baptist: \u201cIs this it<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Maryknoll missioners<\/a>, we commit ourselves to a life of justice and nonviolence among the poor. From the outside, it often looks like: \u201cIs this<\/em> it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my village in El Salvador<\/a>, we bury the dead. We share tamales and coffee. We pray in people\u2019s homes. We embroider together and tell stories about the armed conflict<\/a>. Is this it? For in my village, we also feel the effects of U.S. migration policy. Salvadorans in the United States call home, frightened and scapegoated by society. A boy who had recently been deported from the United States was shut out of the Salvadoran school system for arriving irregularly mid-year. A 12-year-old girl here won\u2019t talk about what happened to her in Texas last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hydra of forced migration is so monstrous, so multi-headed, that justice for migrants and refugees<\/a> seems far off, unattainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But today\u2019s readings offer hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus points out that the kingdom of God is also built upon small things: healing our neighbors, touching the wounds of the migrant, accompanying the poor and vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus doesn\u2019t absolve us from addressing structural injustices; rather, he frees us from becoming paralyzed by them: we become free to do something, for we cannot do everything, and do it with great love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTake as an example \u2026 the prophets,\u201d says our second reading. The passage goes on, \u201cIndeed we call blessed those who have persevered.\u201d (James 5:10-11). They were career denouncers of structural injustice, yet prophets neither threw in the towel nor lived without hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, I watch the Salvadoran girl deported<\/a> from Texas begin to open up. \u201cStrengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak,\u201d Isaiah says. She participates more in catechesis class. I visit her home and her mother. We share coffee. I wonder: Is this it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, here, now, in El Salvador, yes \u2014 this is how God invites me to address the wounds of forced migration. To do something, not everything, but something: to attend and to heal with great love and attention, to participate in Psalm 146:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord God keeps faith forever,<\/em>
secures justice for the oppressed,<\/em>
gives bread to the hungry.<\/em>
The Lord sets prisoners free.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maryknoll Lay Missioner Sarah Bueter, who joined the organization in 2023, serves in a variety of ministries based in La Ceiba, Chalatenango, a rural village belonging to St. Joseph\u2019s parish. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she also holds a master of divinity degree.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Questions for Reflection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n