From the responsorial psalm: “The salvation of the just is from the LORD; he is their refuge in time of distress. And the LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (5:33-39)
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses a question about why his disciples do not fast like the Pharisees and like the disciples of John the Baptist. Using the comparison of a wedding feast, Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees that just as wedding guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, neither do his disciples. He goes on to tell them the parable of new wine poured into old wineskins. Poured into old wineskins, the new wine will burst the skins. New wine, he tells them, must be put into new wineskins. Jesus is the new wine, the new covenant, and his presence as he does his Father’s will brings new life to his followers.
God of mercy, let me consider the feast and the fast. Christ is present always. In recognizing the gift of his presence, there is the joy of counting myself as one of the wedding guests. At times of fasting, whether from within or without, I long for Christ to return so that I can, as the psalmist says, “dwell in the land and be fed in security.” Your mercy, Lord, doubly provides for those you love. In joy, I have Christ truly present in the sacraments, and in fasting I wait for the one who puts to rest all the restlessness of longing for the peace of his presence. “I am the light of the world, says the Lord,” I hear in the Gospel acclamation, “whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Give me the grace to receive the new wine, whether feasting or fasting, with a spirit of gratitude.
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.