Daily Mass Reflections - 7/7
“.....do not put new wine into old wineskins”
Foreshadowing and the use of poignant symbolism takes center stage in today’s Gospel (Matthew 9:14-17) wherein a few of John’s disciples question Jesus about his followers and their indifference to the pre-existing rituals as they pertain to abstinence and fasting.
In his response, Jesus portrays himself as the Bridegroom of the Church, going on to portend his day of reckoning and suffering on the Cross when he says “the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
You may recall the prophet Amos’ foreshadowing of Jesus’ Crucifixion in yesterday’s 1st Reading (Amos 8:9-12), this despite the fact that the Book of Amos is generally considered by Biblical Historians to have been written around the Year 753 BC. We can see now why Paul noted time and time again in his letters that God, in the fullness of time, would go on to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament, one of the many reasons why the Old Testament is such a vital part of our Catholic Heritage.
Jesus concludes today’s lesson by explaining that “no one pours new wine into old wineskins.” For if they do he goes on to explain, “the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
Much as it was for the disciples of Jesus’ time, in order for us to fully conform to the new wine that is the Gospel Message, we must, as Bishop Barron said in his morning reflection, “stop living in the cramped space of our sinful souls.” If it is true that God is love, then only a soul that is on fire with love can take him in.
Whether they be comprised of a fabric that yields a lukewarm faith or a capitulation to secular beliefs that belie the message of the Gospel, the wineskins of our souls must be patiently rewoven, reworked or perhaps completely reconstructed in order to become that refreshed vessel which can fully absorb and drink in God’s saving grace made manifest in the Gospel.
