Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 / Matthew 21:28-32
Most of us wake up in the morning with some kind of electronic or mechanical alarm device, or simply putting it, some kind of alarm clock.
But before the emergence of alarm clocks, the common sound that signals the arrival of dawn is the sound of the cock-crow, which of course, we don't hear much nowadays in our highly urbanized surroundings.
The cock-crow signals the beginning of a new day, that the night is gone, and a new start awaits us.
But once upon a time, a cock also crowed, and a man wept in shame. Because he realized that in a bid to save himself, he denied his Master three times.
He wept in remorse and repentance and in shame. But where sin and shame abounds, grace and forgiveness abounds all the more.
St. Peter stands as a testimony to that. He was like the two sons rolled into one, in that, he said "yes" to Jesus, but at a time of reckoning, he said "no".
But later through a journey of shame and repentance, he said "yes" to Jesus again, this time being a more definitive "yes".
As we can see, great saints like St. Peter and St. Paul knew what shame and repentance is.
Jesus also said in today's gospel, that the great sinners of society at that time, the tax-collectors and prostitutes knew about shame and repentance just as much, and maybe even more than the so-called religious people.
As for us, do we know about shame and repentance as much as the tax-collectors and prostitutes knew it?
If we say we do, then it should be reflected in our attitude towards those whom society deems as dealing in the sleazy and shady side of life.
If we believe that God wants to remove our sin and shame, then we must also believe and pray that God will also remove their sin and shame.
When we can do that, then a new day indeed has begun.