Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
(Zephaniah 3:1-2.9-13; Matthew 21:28-32)
A woman prays often.
She has gone to daily mass and is no stranger to the rosary. Like St. Monica, she asks the Lord to bring
her children back to the Church. She wonders
whether her own devotion may be an impediment to her children finding God. She knows that she can be proud as she always
wants her own way. So she has begun
praying regularly the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
have mercy on me a sinner.”
This woman is practicing the reform indicated in both
readings today. As Zephaniah proclaims,
she has recognized her pride and repented of it. In doing so, she has made herself like the
first son of Jesus’ parable. She realizes
that her efforts to live a holy life have not exempted her from sin and that
she too must ask for mercy.
Next week we shall celebrate the birth of our Savior. Jesus has come to us to save us from our sin. We must embrace him as sinners always needing
reform. If we do not, at least for us he
will have come in vain.
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