Can the Wedding Guests Fast?

September 7, 2007

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17

“…no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. (And) no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Luke 5: 37-39

Piety

Let us pray for the Arlington Cursillo happening this weekend and for Cursillo gatherings going on simultaneously elsewhere in the world.

Jesus Christ, friend and savior, on this day the wedding guests are completing their First Day of the Men’s 115^th Cursillo. Help them to come with joy into your presence. Watch over this weekend. Dwell among these men here and your sisters and brothers throughout the world as they seek to live a life worthy of your mission and sacrifice. Help them recognize you as you glance upon them so they can welcome you into the lives they lead with great joy. Guide them as they meditate on the Ideal that guides the way they spend their time, talents and treasure.

Send to these candidates your grace as they contemplate their past and future role within your Church. Be with them as they yearn to get closer to you by living lives filled with great piety which will reveal that, through faith in you, all aspects of life are reconciled and held together. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/090707.shtml

Can the wedding guests fast?

In John’s Gospel, the first miracle or sign that Jesus performs is turning the water into wine at a wedding. Prompted by his mother Mary, Jesus begins his public ministry and offers the first of the signs he is to perform among the people.

How appropriate that Matthew, Mark and Luke and St. Paul also turn to the image of wedding guests to describe this new relationship of a loving God to His people. Every bride and every groom begin living a new life and a new relationship marked by love. St. Paul considers the love between God and his people in the person and mission of Jesus to his disciples to also mark such a new beginning.

The notes in the N.A.B. teach that Christ “is the inauguration of the new and joyful messianic time of fulfillment and the passing of the old.” These notes also point out that any attempt at holding onto old customs and practices are as futile as sewing a piece of new or “unshrunken” cloth on an old cloak or pouring new wine into old wineskins. These faulty combinations result in the destruction of both cloth and wine.

Jesus changes everything just like he changes the water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Because Jesus represents change from the old practices, all the old practices are rendered superfluous because of the unsuitability combining the old and the new. Jesus does not attempt to just “patch up” the old ways of life. His Good News can not be contained or constrained within the old Mosaic law.

Jesus does not always preach his message directly either. In today’s reading, you can get an idea of His sense of humor and irony in the line, “The old is good.” He knows that despite the goodness of his new wine, some people will reject Him and all that He offers.

Let us avoid being too satisfied with the way things are and be open to change and conversion that comes when we are introduced to a new relationship with our friend and Savior.

Action

What change are you willing to attempt in your life? Recognizing that Jesus doesn’t just want to patch things up, we pray that the candidates on the Cursillo weekend going on at St. Joseph’s Seminary experience a true “metanoia” or conversion in this life.

Sometimes, in our action ideas, we suggest ways to advocate for changing the world to be a more loving place for all people. However, our faith and life in the Cursillo method is not just about hoping for change in others, but it also is about welcoming change that we need to make in our lives.

What change will help you live a stronger life in piety, study and action?

Attempting big changes all at once may only result in frustration as your old habits return. Work on change gradually. A little change that can be sustained for 30 days can easily become a new habit.