Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

Today's Mass Readings

Jesus said to the Chief Priests and the Elders of the people… 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.”

This gospel passage reminds me when I was a postulant. We had a bad ice storm, I was assigned to shovel the snow and ice from the basilica front steps and little plaza area. I thought to myself, “this is boring, and I don’t want to be out in this cold!” So I got salt and used ALL the salt to melt the ice and snow. The monk who oversaw me came up and said “Postulant Adam, did you use all the salt?” At first, I said, “no?” with my answer was turned into a question. But being a new member and wanting to be a full-fledged member in the community, I said cowardly, ”Yeeeesss!” The monk rolled his eyes and walked away.

We laugh about it now, but in that moment, it was no laughing matter. I found out the hard way is that lying to yourself is not a great thing, you live in a fantasy world, right where the devil wants you! But the good thing is Christ’s light ALWAYS outshines the devil’s darkness. Make your heart a stable this Christmas so the light of the world may shine in your heart and as St. John the Baptist said, “I must decrease and He must increase.”

Reflection by Br. Maximilian Burkhart, OSB