March 26th
New Wine, Fresh WineskinsAs we approach the season of Lent and begin this penitential season of the Church year, Jesus challenges us with this Sunday's readings to make a break with our habitual, perhaps a little worn, ways of being a believer. When Jesus speaks in the Gospel reading about "new wine" being "poured into fresh wineskins" he is challenging his disciples to accept his message (new wine) as a refreshed and new vision. He asks them to not pour his fresh new Word into their preconceived religious categories (old wineskins.) Old is good, but sometimes it can limit our vision of the new. As we begin our Lenten journey with Jesus this Wednesday, what old wineskins, ragged and worn, might we take the risk and challenge to throw away? What new thing might Jesus be preparing to pour into our hearts, if we would allow our hearts to be made anew ("fresh wineskins"), through prayer and repentance? "We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world." (St. Francis of Assisi) |