Fr Marco Writes: The Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

esus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, ‘My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not go,’ but afterwards thought better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, ‘Certainly, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will? “The first” they said (Mt 21:28-31).

What is your opinion? Reading this Gospel, I answered saying: “None of them”. The second son says: I will go, but he doesn’t. The first one, at first, also, disobeys and says: No, I will not go. However, the first son has a contrite heart, he repents of his immediate answer and changes his mind. He shows himself for who he is, he doesn’t hide, and says: “I am not willing to go; I do not want to work”. In the end, he is honest, he is not afraid of showing his reality and his weakness.

One of the themes of today’s readings is conversion and repentance. Conversion is a change of direction, it is like when you are driving on a road and you recognize that you are going in the wrong direction, and the first roundabout you turn and go in the right direction. Repentance is to recognize that we are going in the wrong direction, it means that we recognize ourselves as weak, as sinners, and we change minds, and from a ‘No’ to the Lord, we answer with a ‘Yes’. And, thanks to this change of direction, we will return in full communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.

All of this is not based on our efforts or goodwill but is a transformation operated by the Lord himself if we allow him to do so. As the second reading reminds us, Christ descends in our depths, in the darkest places of our souls, and transforms, changes, and transfigures, our ‘No’ into ‘Yes’. Only in him there was a full and constant ‘Yes’ to his Father saying: ‘I will go, I will suffer and die for them so that they can rise with me in glory.’ In him, there was the perfect and unchanging ‘Yes’ for our salvation.