Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time - Mark 2:18-22
Today’s Gospel opens as people come
to Jesus and ask Him: “why do your disciples not fast?” Everyone knew that the
Pharisees fasted, as did the disciples of John. They are curious about the fact
that Jesus and His disciples do not fast. Jesus doesn’t respond as they may
have hoped He would. Rather, Jesus uses the example of a wedding feast.
Jesus tells his listeners that as
long as the bridegroom is at the reception, the guests will continue to
celebrate this joyous occasion. The time to fast will be when the bridegroom is
no longer with them. Jesus then uses the image of a cloak that is torn and
needs to be patched. He tells His listeners that anyone with sense would not
use a new piece of material to patch the cloak. Given the difference in the age
of the cloths, it would simply make the tear worse. Jesus then uses the image
of wineskins. He says that one should never put new wine into previously used
wineskins because the skins would burst.
Today, perhaps is Jesus is inviting
us to “do something new” rather than simply continuing to live out our old (and
perhaps unhealthy) patterns. I assume that all of us have at least one pattern
in our life that we would like to change. Take a moment and ask yourself: what
is one small change I would like to make in my life? How serious am I about
making this change?
Change is not as easy. It is easy
to make a New Year’s resolution. However, it is much more difficult to keep
that resolution. What is the change that you would like to make? What is the
change that you desire? What is one simple step you can take to move in that
direction? May we pray for one another that we will take that first step!
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