Sorting the_category

Since 2.x I have been using this to display the assigned categories on a single post:

‘<?php the_category(‘, ‘) ?>’

And the category names would duly appear, in alphabetical order, separated by commas when there are more than one for that post.

As of 4.4, they are apparently now sorted by ID. There is, unless I’ve misread the Codex, no way to specify a sort on the_category, so I’m guessing something has changed in the pertinent file in wp-includes. This is admittedly exceedingly minor, but I’d like to think it’s fixable.

Site in question: http://www.dustbury.com/