Faith in Waiting

December 19, 2025 Friday of the Third Week of Advent 
Daily Readings: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1:5-25

Children of God: In the town of Obando, Bulacan in the Philippines, there is a famous tradition known as the Obando Fertility Dance. Every May, thousands of Filipino couples, especially those praying for children, join in this joyful dance before the image of Santa Clara. The couples dance not for entertainment, but as an act of faith, a prayer in motion. Many of them have been waiting for years, some even decades, to have a child. Yet they continue to dance with hope, believing that in God’s perfect time, their prayers will be answered. For them, dancing is a language of trust — a way of saying, “Lord, we will keep believing until You grant our heart’s desire.”

In the gospel of Luke, we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, an elderly couple who also longed for a child. They were righteous before God, yet their prayers seemed unanswered for many years. When an angel appeared to Zechariah and announced, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John” (Luke 1:13), Zechariah could hardly believe it. After years of silence, God finally spoke: not too early, not too late, but at the right time. Their son, John the Baptist, would become the one to prepare the way for the Lord.

This story reminds us that God’s delays are not His denials. He hears every prayer, even when the answer seems far away. Sometimes God says “yes,” sometimes “no,” and sometimes “not yet.” The waiting period is not wasted time; it is a sacred space where faith is tested and strengthened. Like Zechariah, we may doubt or grow tired, but God is always faithful to His promises. His timing is always perfect because it flows from His love.

The couples who dance in Obando, just like Zechariah and Elizabeth, teach us that hope and faith must go hand in hand. To keep praying even when nothing seems to happen is itself an act of trust. God does not forget those who wait upon Him. His blessings may not come in the way we expect, but they come in the way we need — and often in ways that surprise us with joy.

Children of God: Let us never lose heart when prayers seem unanswered. God may be silent for a while, but His silence is never absence. He is preparing something beautiful in His own time. Let us keep our hearts open, our faith steady, and our trust firm, for the God who blessed Zechariah and Elizabeth still blesses those who wait today.