The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "The disciples of
John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the
same; but yours eat and drink." Jesus answered them, "Can you make
the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will
come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in
those days." And he also told them a parable. "No one tears a piece
from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the
piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine
into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will
be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into
fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he
says, ´The old is good.´" (Luke 5: 33-39)
Introductory Prayer: Lord
God, I come from dust and to dust I shall return. You, on the other hand,
existed before all time, and every creature takes its being from you. You
formed me in my mother’s womb with infinite care, you watch over me tenderly. I
hope at my dearth you will embrace my soul to carry me home to heaven to be
with you forever. Thank you for looking upon me and blessing me with your love.
Take mine in return. I humbly offer you all that I am.
Petition: Rejuvenate my
spiritual life, Lord.
1. Judging by the Wrong Standards: Once again, we have Jesus at a meal, this time with Levi
(Matthew) and his friends. The scribes and Pharisees have come along to
scrutinize Jesus and his followers, as they were wary of his teachings which
were not in accord with the legalism and formalism to which they were
accustomed. Their statement here about fasting contains an implicit judgment:
You and your followers are not following our traditions of fasting; therefore,
you cannot be truly holy. They present it not as a question, but as a
statement, an accusation. They are not open to looking at things in a new way.
We, too, can be guilty of rash judgment, even with other people in the Church
who do not do things the way we do. Our reference point has to be not what we
are used to, but what the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, teaches and
approves, be it ancient traditions or new manifestations of the Holy Spirit in
the life of the Church.
2. For Everything There Is a Season: Jesus’ answer is simple: there is a time and place for both
fasting and feasting. Some people have a special vocation to a life of unusual
abnegation, but for most of us, the liturgical year provides us with a natural
cycle of rejoicing and penance. At times we rejoice with the “bridegroom” –
like Christmas and Easter when we celebrate the coming of Christ and his
resurrection. At other times we practice more penance – as in Lent when we
focus more on making reparation for the separation from the Lord caused by sin
in our lives, or in Advent when we purify our hearts to receive the Lord at
Christmas. Ordinary Time has its own feasts and occasions of particular
significance one way or the other. The question we have to ask ourselves is
this: Are we living these liturgical realities, or are we neglecting them? Do
the feasts and fasts of the Church affect my life, or are the liturgical
seasons at best curiosities that I hardly notice?
3. The New You: Then,
Jesus offers all those present a challenge in the form of the parable. Both
images – the cloth and the wineskins – emphasize the idea that in order to
embrace his message we need to think “outside the box”. We easily get settled
into a routine, becoming complacent and tepid in our faith. It’s even worse if
we have habits of sin. To follow Christ and his “Good News” truly, we need to
leave behind what St. Paul called the “old self” in order to be new creatures
in Christ (Colossians 3:9-10). For the Pharisees, that would have meant leaving
behind their strict formalism and judgmental attitude. For Levi and his friends
it meant abandoning their worldliness and sinful lifestyle. Making a break with
our old self is difficult – the “old wine” is what we’re used to – but we have
to take the step of recognizing in what our old self consists and deciding to
leave that behind to embrace Christ’s message, which is always challenging,
ever new.
Conversation with Christ: Lord
Jesus, help me to focus more on following you than on judging others. Show me
who I am, and whom you want me to be. Grant me the grace to live the life of
the Church – feasts and fasts – with enthusiasm, so you can transform me into a
new creature.
Resolution: I will make it a point to live today, Friday, as a memorial of the death
of Our Lord by offering a small sacrifice as a penance for my sins, and I will
live this coming Sunday with real joy as the celebration of his resurrection
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