Author: WebDept ParishAdmin

“The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.” What is fasting all about? What’s the spiritual point? Jesus’ answer helps us see the point of fasting is relationship with Jesus Himself.

Fasts (and other acts of self-denial) are a way for us to focus our attention away from inessential things so we can focus on the essential things. They detach us from things that are not important so we can cling to what is most important. They help us to grow in our love and surrender to God Himself. That is why the disciples cannot fast, do not need to fast – they are already near Jesus! “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?”

This is one way that Jesus shows that he brings something completely new into the world. He IS the Bridegroom spoken of in the Old Testament to describe the Covenant of God with His People. This is new cloth, new wine! This is the Good News! But this Good News does not fit into the cramped confines of the spiritual disciplines of the Pharisees, confines so cramped by their own arrogance and expectations that there is no room for Jesus there.

They cannot see who Jesus is, they cannot accept what Jesus is saying, because their old wineskins and old cloth cannot bear it. In order to receive the Good News, they must be made new. Instead, they cling to what they know (because they have fashioned it themselves) rather than opening themselves to something that is far beyond them because they are afraid the new will ruin the old.

And it will. So they fast rather than feast.

They would rather cling to their old elaborate rules than let go, believe, and be made new so that they can feast on the incredible Truth Jesus offers them! Jesus is trying to tell them that He comes to make us a new creation and bring a new kind of intimacy with God, a New Covenant, a new communion.

For the Pharisees, the old cloth and wineskins were the many minute laws and the pride they took in them, as well as their specific expectations about who the Messiah would be. What about us? What are the old cloth and wineskins in our own lives? What are the beliefs about God and about ourselves that we use to remain in control over what we receive from Jesus? What are the old cloths we don’t want to let go of, or the old wineskins we just keep refilling with old wine?

“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). Jesus wants us to enter into a profound intimacy with Him, so that He is free to pour into us and through us the mighty Love that changes everything. He wants to make us new creations in the New Creation, open to receive all He longs to give us. Lord, give us the grace to receive Your Wedding Gifts!

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Pharisees. As we read through Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus making enemies when he is only trying to hold out the truth to them (have you ever felt like this?). The Pharisees are the ones who hold themselves above everyone else because they know the law up and down, inside and out. And they follow the law. Scrupulously. Not just the Scriptural law, but the hundreds – HUNDREDS – of traditional interpretations of that law. In their (self-determined) superiority, they ruled over the people and in their (self-determined) self-righteousness, they looked down on all others.

This is what humans will do. Because we are fallen, and we are free. So wherever there are rules, there will be a tendency for some to act like the Pharisees. There will always be some who assure themselves that they are doing things properly because they are obeying the precise letter of “the law.” And it never ends there! For those who think and operate like the Pharisees, there will always be a tendency to nitpick the (self-determined) failures of others.

At some point on the spiritual journey, most of us become hyper-aware of “the rules” and work hard to conform ourselves, our behavior, our habits, to those rules. Saying specific prayers, attending Mass, confessing our sins, and practicing other devotions are good things! But the enemy can turn these good things into emblems of (self-determined) righteousness, and even tempt us to think we are better than others. We may even be tempted to look down on others or begin to nitpick inessential details. This is not the point of the rules the Church gives us!

If we do these “good things” just to “be good Catholics”, we are missing the essential thing. Religion is not about following rules (though the rules are certainly the guardrails that keep us on the road and not in the ditch!). All of the many practices and devotions in the Church have one essential goal: to help us encounter and love Jesus Christ, who alone is holy!

We are made to glorify HIM, and not ourselves.

The Pharisees were glorifying THEMSELVES, and not God.

In their (self-determined) righteousness, the Pharisees refused to let Jesus’ transforming love heal their hardened hearts so that their lives could open up to the unimaginably broad horizons of God’s will for them. We can do the same thing – God has given us a free will that makes self-determination possible, but what we determine for ourselves will always be so much smaller, so cramped and limited, compared to what God wills for us. Let’s determine to open ourselves and offer ourselves as completely as we can to Him, trusting that He wants more for us than we can imagine!

Lord, I give everything to you and I accept everything that You send, knowing that Your love for me is greater than my weakness and littleness, and will never fail me. Amen.

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 Can one pour old wine into new wineskins?

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Today’s Gospel is one of celebration! Weddings and wine and the glory of being in the presence of our dear Savior- Oh My! For such happy occasions on Earth cannot begin to compare to the Glory of that offered to us by the true presence of living alongside our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lives! 

While 2000 years ago Christ may have breathed and ate alongside His disciples and the inhabitants of Israel, to this day currently, He is always here with us. We don’t ever need to be lost or afraid, but can rejoice that His word continues to live. More than anywhere else, we can encounter the great joy and peace He offers in the Holy sacrifice of the Mass. Are you mindful of Christ’s real presence when you receive him in Holy Communion? How blessed are we to be able to participate in the Mass, Christ’s union with His love, the Church!

Let us always remember that the will of the Lord is Always Great! Christ, who calms the storm, who heals the sick, wants us to be with Him. Whether through prayer, or the physical act of attending Mass, celebrate His love that lives with us today and always. 

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