My Saturday Daily Blessings, July 7, 2012

My Saturday Daily Blessings

Be still, quiet your heart and mind, the Lord is here loving you,

talking to you.................

Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar)

*First Reading: Amos 9:11-15

Thus says the LORD:
On that day I will raise up the fallen hut of David;
I will wall up its breaches, raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
That they may conquer what is left of Edom and all the nations that shall bear my name, say I, the LORD, who will do this.
Yes, days are coming, says the LORD,
When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed;
The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it.
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground; never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them, say I, the LORD, your God.

*Responsorial Psalm: Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

   "The Lord speak of peace to his people."

*Gospel Reading: 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."

**Reflection:

The question of the disciples of John concerning the practice of fasting. Fasting is quite an ancient use, practiced by almost all religions.  Jesus himself practiced it during forty days (Mt 4, 2). But he does not insist with the disciples so that they do the same thing. He leaves them free. Because of this, the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees, who were obliged to fast, want to know why Jesus does not insist on fasting “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?”• Matthew 9, 15: The answer of Jesus.  Jesus answers with a comparison in the form of a question: “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them?”  Jesus associates fasting to mourning, and he considers himself the bridegroom.  When the bridegroom is with his friends, that is, during the wedding feast, they have no need to fast.  When Jesus is with them, with his disciples, it is a feast, the wedding feast. Therefore, they should not fast. But one day the bridegroom will go away.  It will be a day of mourning. Then, if they want they can fast. Jesus refers to his death. He knows and feels that if he continues on this way of liberty, the authority will want to kill him.
• Matthew 9, 16-17: New wine in new skins! In these two verses, the Gospel of Matthew gives two separate phrases of Jesus on the patch of new cloth on an old cloak and of the new wine in new skins. These words throw light on the discussions and the conflicts of Jesus with religious authority of the time.  A patch of new cloth is not put on an old cloak; because when washing it, the new piece of cloth shrinks and pulls on the old cloak and tears it and the tear becomes bigger.  Nobody puts new wine in old skins, because when the new wine ferments, it tears the old skins. New wine in new skins! The religion defended by the religious authority was like a piece of old cloth, like an old skin. Both the disciples of John and the Pharisees, tried to renew the religion.  In reality, they hardly put some patches and because of this, they ran the risk of compromising and harming both the novelty as well as the old uses.  It is not necessary to want to change the novelty which Jesus brings to us for the old uses. Either one or the other! The new wine which Jesus brings to us tears the old skins.  It is necessary to know how to separate things. Most probably, Matthew presents these words of Jesus to orientate the communities of the years 80’s. There was a group of Jew-Christians who wanted to reduce the novelty of Jesus to the Judaism of the time before the coming of Jesus.  Jesus is not against what is “old”.  He does not want that what is old be imposed on that which is new and, that it prevents it from manifesting itself.  Vatican II cannot be reread with the mentality before the Council, like some try to do today. 

**Prayer:

 Let the splendour of the Resurrection

  light up our hearts and minds, Lord,

scattering the shadow of death

  and bringing us to the radiance of eternity.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

  one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources:

*Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

**The Carmelite Order

  Lectio Divina

*** Universalis On-line

    http://www.universalis.net