“As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” MK 2: 19

 

We have heard many times that Jesus is the Bridegroom while the Church, each of us, is the bride.  The above line from today’s Gospel from St. Mark, tells us that while Jesus is with us, we should be in constant happiness and celebration.  But are we?

 

The disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus’ disciples because they did not fast.  Fasting was one of the three most important religious duties, along with prayer and almsgiving not only during the times of Jesus but in ours as well.  Jesus gives a simple explanation to all who will listen but not just with ears of the head but also the heart.  There is a time for fasting and a time for feasting or celebrating.  To walk as a disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole new joy of relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in celebrating with the groom and bride their wedding bliss.  However, there also comes a time when we, the Lord’s disciples, must bear the cross of affliction and purification.  For the disciples there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord’s presence and celebrating His goodness.  There is also a time for seeking the Lord with humility fasting and for mourning over sin.  Where are we today?

 

Jesus goes on further in today’s Gospel to warn us about the problem of the “closed mind” that refuses to learn new things.  Jesus used an image familiar to His audience, new and old wine skins.  In Jesus’ time, wine was stored in wine skins, not bottles.  New wine poured into skins was still fermenting.  The gases exerted gave pressure.  New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they were hard.  What did Jesus mean by this comparison?  God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament about a heart of stone and one of flesh.  Are we to reject the old in place of the new?  Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new.  We need to keep this in mind when there is a movement to rewrite history.

 

St. Matthew recorded in his Gospel that Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure, what is new and what is old.  How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament books of Scripture or the New Testament books of Scripture, rather than both.  The Lord gives us the Grace of Wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and new.  He does not want us to hold rigidly to the past and be resistant to the new work of His Holy Spirit in our lives.  He wants our minds and hearts to be like new wine skins, open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit.  To expand our growth in Faith, Hope and Love for Jesus and His Way as opposed to the ways of the world.  Are we eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word and Plan for our life?

 

“Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth.  Help me to seek you earnestly in prayer and fasting that I may turn away from sin and willfulness and conform my life more fully to your will.  May I always find joy in knowing, loving, and serving You who are My All.”

 

May God’s Grace and Blessings Always be with you and yours!!  Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us!!  

 

Yours in Christ,

Deacon Bob

St. Clare of Assisi

Houston, TX