8 July, 2023 | Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

 Gospel Mt 9:14-17

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?"

Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,

for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.

People do not put new wine into old wineskins.

Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.

Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

Reflections

“Anyone who is in Christ is a new creature. For him the old things have passed away; a new world has come” (2 Cor 5:17). The teachings of Jesus are new and unadulterated. Jesus uses the beautiful imagery of a wedding feast to describe the type of relationship we need to develop with Him. Wedding time is not a time for mourning or fasting rather a time to rejoice and be glad, a time to celebrate with the bridegroom. When we are in Christ, with Christ and for Christ, our life takes on a new meaning, and an attitudinal change takes place and we become a new creation. Pope Francis says, “Joy should be the hallmark of a Christian’s life”. New wine is the sign of a new era.” He came to renew the whole universe. St Ireneus says: “The glory of God is the human fully alive.”

Activity

Make a list of new things that you will do today.

Books on a Creative Life