From the responsorial psalm: “Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (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.”
In the first reading from the prophet Amos, the LORD promises to restore Israel. “I will wall up its breaches,” says the LORD, “raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old.” In sending his only-begotten Son, God holds true to his promise. The parable that Jesus shares with the disciples of John makes clear that Jesus is the bridegroom, the Messiah, the fulfillment of the LORD’s promise. When the bridegroom is taken away, Jesus tells them, then his disciples will fast. While present, Jesus is the new way, his presence among them a cause for feasting and celebrating. Just as new wine can’t be contained in old wineskins without bursting them, Jesus as the means of grace, love, and forgiveness requires a new way of thinking and living.
God, just as Jesus taught the disciples through parables, help me understand as I am best able to understand his message and your purpose in sending him. Your grace is superabundant, and nothing is lost in it, as you speak in Amos as the one who will wall up breaches and raise up ruins. To the disciples of John and the Pharisees, Jesus’ mission was radical and revolutionary. At its root is your mercy in the person of Jesus. Grant me the gifts of wisdom and understanding to be able to receive Jesus, to be transformed in receiving your mercy. And let your love be so abundant as to overflow through me into the lives of everyone I encounter today. Saint Maria Goretti, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.