December 16, 2025
Third Tuesday of Advent
Fr. Marcelo Ariel Cichinelli
Peace and all good to everyone.
I am fr. Marcelo Ariel Cichinelli, a Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land. I speak to you from the Holy Grotto in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
On the Tuesday of the third week of Advent, the liturgy offers us the image of two sons who respond in different ways to their Father, who asks them to work in his vineyard.
The first, whom we might define as rebellious, tells the Father that he will not go to work in the vineyard, but then does the opposite: he goes and carries out the work that was asked of him. The second son of this parable, when faced with his Father’s request, replies that he will go to work, but he does not do it.
Jesus, without mincing words and with the clear eyes of the Master who knows the secret contradictions of the human heart, addresses the chief priests and the elders. He sets before them the figure of the son who says yes to the will of the Father, but then does not carry it out. And to them — and to those who are like them — he poses a question of conscience: is the faithful observance of the precepts of the Law and the rituals of the Temple coherent with the conduct of life that has been adopted?
Jesus asks of the chief priests and the elders the same thing that the prophets asked before him: a clean and clear heart; “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”.
John the Baptist will address them by warning them: “brood of vipers, repent, for the time has come to cleanse the threshing floor”. And, in fact, they are before the One whom John foretold, the Son of God.
The tax collectors and the prostitutes are also Israelites, members of the chosen people, who because of their mistaken way of life obviously do not enjoy a good reputation. Jesus compares them to the son who, at first, refuses to carry out the will of the Father, but then accomplishes it. They were able to recognize in John the Baptist the forerunner of the Messiah. Prostitutes and tax collectors take precedence because they repented of their sins and converted their way of life.
Jesus himself will forgive a prostitute by writing on the ground in the temple and will eat in the house of Zacchaeus, the tax collector in Jericho. They received the message of God’s merciful love, allowed themselves to be healed by Christ; they were able to discern the signs of the times and proclaim that only Jesus is the one sent by the Father, the Supreme and Eternal Priest of almighty God.
From here, from the Holy Place of the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord, in Bethlehem, I would like to share with you a reading of a page of the Fifth Gospel: the Holy Land. About four kilometers from Bethlehem is the sanctuary of the Shepherds’ Field. In this place the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, as the Gospel of Luke tells us.
Those men were placed in the same category as the tax collectors and the prostitutes. They too were looked down upon because they did not observe all the Jewish religious regulations. The shepherds were marginalized by the elders and the chief priests. Nevertheless, to them the angel of the Lord was sent to reveal the Good News of the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord.
The shepherds of Bethlehem could be likened to the son who says “no” to the will of the Father. They are chosen by God, who knows the humble of heart, to make them see and hear the heavenly host sing: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people of good will”. It is precisely good will that makes the difference between the attitude of the first and that of the second son of the parable that Matthew presents to us today.
Dear friends, we know well how difficult it is to carry out the will of God the Father. But if we identify ourselves with Christ, our will is strengthened in him, and duty is transformed into an act of identification with the benevolent love of the Father toward his beloved ones.
In this sanctuary of the Angel’s Announcement to the shepherds a large mural in majolica will be placed, the prototype of which was blessed by Pope Francis in June 2023. In the mosaic are represented people who could be likened to the shepherds of the first Christmas. When Pope Francis saw the plastic representation, he noticed that in the scene there was a woman dressed in red, with somewhat provocative stockings, who does not let her face be seen. The Holy Father asked: “And who is this woman?”. He was told: “Your Holiness, she represents a prostitute”. And with a small smile he said: “You did well”.
Your words, Jesus, are spirit and life! “Truly I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God”.
