Third Sunday of Advent: The Long Game of Belief
The Crooked Sign
In the hit series Ted Lasso, an upbeat American football coach is hired to manage a British soccer team, a sport he knows nothing about. He enters a locker room filled with cynicism. The players are defeated; the ownership is hostile; the fans are angry. Ted doesn't give a grand speech about winning the championship. He walks into his office, takes a piece of yellow paper, writes the word
BELIEVE
on it in black marker, and tapes it—crookedly—above the door.
Ted’s method of transformation is not the "quantum leap." He doesn't fix the team overnight. He fixes the team through relentless, small, easy interactions. He brings the owner a small box of biscuits every morning. He learns the name of the towel boy. He acknowledges the players' feelings. He makes the act of being a team easy by removing the friction of ego and unkindness. Slowly, through these tiny atomic actions, the culture shifts.
The Doubt in the Darkness
Today is Gaudete Sunday—Joy Sunday. We light the rose candle. But the Gospel reading (Matthew 11:2-11) begins in a place that feels very far from joy.
John the Baptist, the fiery prophet we met last week, is now in prison. The wide-open sky of the Jordan River has been replaced by the damp stone of a cell. And in that darkness, John begins to doubt. He sends his disciples to Jesus with a heartbreaking question:
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
John expected the Messiah to be a revolutionary. He expected the axe to fall now. He expected the Romans to be driven out and the Kingdom established in power. Instead, he hears reports of a carpenter from Nazareth who is wandering around preaching about lilies and sparrows. Jesus isn't fixing the world the way John thought He would. It’s too slow. It’s too small.
Jesus sends a message back to John. But He doesn't send a theological thesis. He points to the data: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed... and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
Jesus is validating the "long game." He is saying, "John, look at the fruit. The Kingdom isn't coming with an explosion; it is coming like a sunrise. It is coming through individual acts of healing and mercy. The desert is blooming, one flower at a time."
Atomic Action: Make it Easy
This brings us to the third law of Atomic Habits:
Make it Easy.
We live in a culture that is obsessed with the "big win." We want to lose 30 pounds in a month. We want to become a saint in a weekend. When we set these massive, difficult goals, we almost always fail. Why? Because the "friction" is too high. It requires too much willpower to sustain.
James Clear argues that to build a lasting habit, you must reduce the friction. You must make the good behavior so easy that you can’t say no. He calls it the Two-Minute Rule: "When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do."
If you want to read the Bible, don't commit to an hour. Commit to one verse. If you want to pray, don't commit to the whole Rosary. Commit to one Hail Mary while you brush your teeth.
Application: The Farmer's Patience
The Church gives us St. James in the Second Reading (5:7-10) to reinforce this truth. James writes:
“See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient with it until it receives the early and late rains.”
A farmer cannot force a seed to grow. He cannot scream at the crop to make it faster. He can only do the small, repetitive, easy things: Water. Weed. Wait. The "early and late rains" refer to the specific climate of Palestine—the farmer is dependent on God’s timing. James tells us:
“You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm.”
Isaiah, in the First Reading (35:1-6a, 10), uses similar imagery. He speaks of the desert bursting into bloom. But notice his advice to the people:
“Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak.”
He doesn't say "run a marathon." He says "stand up." Strengthen the knees. Do the basic, easy thing.
This Gaudete Sunday, our joy comes from realizing we don't have to fix the whole world, or even our whole lives, by Christmas.
We just have to take the next small step.
1. Lower the Bar for Prayer:
We often feel guilty because our prayer life isn't "monastic" enough. Make it easy. Put a prayer card on your dashboard. When you hit a red light, read it. That’s it. You have turned a frustration into a prayer. You removed the friction.2. The Highway of Holiness:
Isaiah speaks of a “highway... called the holy way.” A highway is designed to make travel easy and direct. Look at your life: what makes charity hard? Is it that you never have cash? Put a $10 bill in your pocket specifically to give away this week. Make the act of generosity frictionless.3. The "Believe" Sign:
Like Ted Lasso, we need to believe that these small actions matter. When you smile at a cashier, when you hold your tongue in an argument, when you say one "Our Father"—these are the raindrops that water the crop.
Jesus comforted John by showing him the small miracles. We comfort ourselves by doing the small acts of love. Don't look for the thunderbolt. Look for the bloom in the desert. Make it easy to love, and the joy will follow.
