The Gospel for Tuesday of the third week of Advent is taken from Matthew 21st, chapter 28 to the 32nd verse. Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, what is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, son, go out and work in the vineyard today. The Son said in reply, I will not. But afterwards he changed his mind and went.

The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, yes, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did his Father’s will? They answered the first. Jesus said to them, amen. I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him. The beautiful part of this reading for me is we’re in this world to go through a process called conversion transformation. We start with one truth or one half truth, or one lie or whatever. And we move closer and closer to what we are called to be in truth. And the whole thing that is important for one to understand is we have to change, continue to change.

The Pharisees would not. And so Jesus points out, I came into the world to change people, to awaken them, to renew them. And the Pharisees were not interested at all. After your reflection, I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer. Father, why should we ever be ashamed of something that we’ve done that is wrong or something that we misunderstood?

It’s part of the plan. It’s why you have made it so clear to us that your response to us and our failures is nothing but love, forgiveness and the power to change. Bless us with that conviction that we should never be afraid to face where we have made mistakes or where we continue to make mistakes. Help us to be transformed. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.