Today’s Gospel ［Friday of 22nd Week in Ordinary Time］: )【Pope Francis has called for fasting and praying for peace tomorrow that war will not break out in the Middle East. We should all participate in some way for the sake of world peace. In today’s gospel the scribes and Pharisees asked why the disciples were eating and drinking and not fasting. Jesus indicated there was a time for rejoicing and a time for fasting and repentance. The Messiah was present to show God’s intimate love and concern for his people, just as a bridegroom would for the bride, and the people should be rejoicing: “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.” The time of suffering and repentance would come, such as with the suffering and death of Jesus and other suffering and unhappy incidents, and then there should be fasting, repentance and praying. In Jesus, God has done something new. The symbol of new wine is indicative of productive harvest and vitality and this newness and vitality brought by Jesus might not be compatible with old thinking and old habits which might need change. But we must also remember that wisdom from the past might be useful and good for the present and must not be discarded. It is the outdated and incompatible thinking and habits that must be changed, thinking and habits that are narrow, exclusive, selfish, domineering, and full of self-importance. For the latter thinking and habits, we must fast and pray that they would not lead to the outbreak of war: “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.” But as mentioned above, ancient wisdom can be good and useful: “And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” We must treasure the perennial wisdom from the past while continually renewing ourselves.】(Lk 5:33-39) 2013-09-06 (Friday of 22nd Week in Ordinary Time)
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:20:47 +0000
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