HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT (1)
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
HOMILY THEME: THE PARABLE OF TWO SONS…. “The son answered: ‘I don’t want to’. But later he thought better of it and went”
BY: Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench
HOMILY: Today, we contemplate the father who had two sons and went to the first and said to him: «Son, today go and work in my vineyard» (Mt 21:28). And he answered: «‘I don’t want to’. But later he thought better of it and went» (Mt 21:29). Then, he also went to the second with the same command. And he replied: «‘I will go, sir’, but he did not go» (cf. Mt 21:30). What really matters is not saying “yes”, but “doing it”. As the saying goes «actions speak louder than words».
On another occasion, Jesus will refer to the doctrine taught by this parable: «Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven» (Mt 7:21). As Saint Augustine wrote, «there are two wills. Your will has to be corrected so as to identify it with God’s will; but do not try to bend God’s will to adapt it to yours». In the Catalan language we say a child “believes” you to mean he obeys you. There is an identification of obedience and faith, of the reationship that exists between trust and obedience.
Obedience comes from the Latin composition “ob-audire”: meaning, to listen with great attention. And this is should be evident in our prayer, in our not turning “a deaf ear” to the voice of Love. «We men tend to “defend ourselves”, to adhere to our selfishness. But God demands that, when obeying Him, we put our faith to work. At times, our Lord suggests what He wants in a whisper, deep, down, inside our conscience: we must remain on high alert to be able to distinguish his voice and be faithful to it» (Saint Josemaria Escrivà). To abide by God’s will implies becoming a saint; to obey does not mean to be a puppet in someone else’s hands, but to interiorize what we must accomplish: and then, to do it “because you feel like it”.
Our Mother, the Virgin Mary, a great teacher of obedience to the faith, will show us the way to learn how to obey the will of the Father.
Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench
(Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)
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