SABBATH LIFE’S ONLY RULE The Gospel today seems to suggest that the new is always better than the old: “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one; no one pours new wine into old wineskins.” While there is a grain of truth to that, it is not always necessarily the case. At the end of the same Gospel, we even read: “No one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” We affirm one great truth in this passage from Luke: both old and new are good. And the greater truth is that we can make the old and the new work for us. How do we do that? God, in His infinite wisdom and power, has given us the capacity to share in His divine love. He holds all creation together in Himself. Every little act of kindness we do to others, given our faculties to decide based on love, become our humble participation in the love of God. In the pious devotions of those belonging to the earlier generations — like regular Benediction and praying of the rosary — which the younger ones do not as conscientiously adhere to today, we see how the old is good. In the new ways of proclaiming the faith — evangelization through the use of mass media, especially social networking — among the young, which the older ones consider too secular, we bear witness to how the new is good. Our life, as it is, is an ongoing process of combining the best practices of generations, both old and new. We come to enjoy life’s fullness because of the lessons of the past and the promises of the future, which bring to life what we experience today as life unfolds. Consciously, we are called to value the old ways and be critical of the new. We do not have fast rules on life, except this: “Love one another as I have loved you.” And the Lord Himself lived by this only rule. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you discover some sense of newness in your everyday relation with the Lord? Thank You, Lord, for the gift of the old faith and the opportunities to renew my ties with You. Amen.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 09:55:05 +0000