22nd Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday (School Mass) - Do not put new wines into old wineskins

 

What a perfect Gospel for our first school Mass at the beginning of the school year:  “Do not put new wine into old wineskins”. 

In Jesus’ day, wine was a very common drink. Instead of carrying around water bottles, people would carry around wineskins—a sort of pouch—like a giant caprisun if you’ve ever had one of those. The pouch—the wineskin—was made, not out of plastic but leather. And the wineskin could be resused—it was recyclable. But over time, the leather wineskin would become dry and brittle with age. 

Now, where does wine come from? Wine is made out of grape juice a yeast. And you mix them together in the right concentration, and the yeast, which is actually alive, a living organism, eats the sugar in the grape juice, and makes two byproducts. Wine, which in those days, was much cleaner than drinking water, and also carbon dioxide gas.

So, you’ve made some wine, where do you store it? In your leather wineskin. But if the wine is still too new, it’s still fermenting a bit, it’s still producing that carbon dioxide gas. And if you put that new wine, into that old wineskin, it will burst, like a balloon that continues to expand, eventually the balloon pops. So, for new wine, you need to use a fresh, new, pliable, flexible wineskin, that will expand, as the new wine finishes its fermentation process.

I really like how Jesus gives us a little science lesson in the middle of the Gospel, and a very good lesson for the beginning of the school year.

During the course of the school year, you, students are going to be taught a lot of new material, new ideas, like new wine. But you have a choice: will you be like that old, rigid, wineskin, unwilling and unable to expand, intellectually, or will you be like that new wineskin, fresh, flexible, willing to expand. It’s a choice. Do you want to learn or not. Do you want your intellect to grow or not.

Let be honest, If you hate school, if you don’t want to learn, you will be miserable. But, if choose, and your pray for help, and ask for help when learning is difficult, then this will be a good year. 

In addition to learning about all these new ideas over in school, is my hope, and prayer, that you will also grow, not just intellectually, but spiritually. That is the purpose of a Catholic school. A Catholic school exists not just instill new ideas, but to help souls be filled with the life and love of God. 

Teachers, help these children learn, not just their academic lessons, help these students to know God. It’s not as easy as it once was, the culture does not support the knowledge of God. It has become an old, brittle wineskin, and unless there is some rehabilitation at this level, it will burst; it’s only a matter of time.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Wonder and Awe, may each of us to be new wineskins--open to the growth, the conversion that God desires for each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of OT 2021 - Monday - Christ the Bridegroom and High Priest

 

In the time of Jesus, Jewish law required fasting once a year, on the Day of Atonement, which we know as Yom Kippur, and a few other minor fast days. Above and beyond what the law prescribed, the Pharisees practiced fasting twice a week. Jewish rabbis and their followers would practice increased fasting as well. The disciples of John the Baptist, too, apparently imitated John’s ascetic lifestyle, fasting as a sign of repentance and in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. So there was a sort of religious attitude toward fasting in Jesus’ day that the more one fasted, the holier one must be. 

In contrast, Jesus and his disciples are seen not only feast with sinners but failing to observe the days of fasting prescribed by the law. 

In reply to those voicing criticism concerning his practices, the Lord takes the opportunity to reveal something about his identity. These meals that he has been sharing, these feasts, are no mere ordinary gatherings for physical sustenance. When he gathers with his associates, his friends, and with sinners, he is a bridegroom with his wedding guests. 

What is more important, in the course of his public ministry than fasting, is revealing that he is the long awaited for Messiah—who will fully restore the nuptial bond between God and his people lost by sin.

He is the High Priest, as we heard in the first reading from the letter to the Hebrews, who reconciles God and man, through his flesh, who becomes a “source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

So, this Gospel is much more about how often we should fast as followers of Jesus, for as he said, “the days will come when my disciples will fast.” This Gospel is about recognizing that Jesus was much more than a common rabbi, a pharisee, much more than even John the Baptist. 

And again, this is still just chapter 2 of Mark’s Gospel. So imagine you are reading this for the first time, and more and more of Jesus’ identity is being revealed. You’d be thinking, this keeps getting better and better! God is not just doing something of the same old thing, he’s doing something new.

And just as it was 2000 years ago, God wants to do something new in our lives—to bring about new gifts, a flourishing of new ways of showing his glory, new ways of reconciling sinners to himself, new ways of reaching the hardest of hearts, new ways of revealing the love of the Bridegroom for his Bride the Church. May we be attentive to the ways the Holy Spirit wishes to use in in new ways for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, and peace in our world and our hearts.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those preparing for baptism and full initiation: that they may be open to the grace of conversion and the joy of the followers of Christ.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For a new springtime of justice: that all people of good will may work together against the increasing threats to civility, religious liberty and human life.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind:  that the new wine of God’s grace through Christ will bring them consolation and peace.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.