New Wine Into New Wineskins

 

  Mk 2:18-22

 Jesus Questioned About Fasting

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Jesus came with a new message, a new approach to the spiritual life, one that fostered new life rather than a series of rigorous rules, especially as long as he was with his disciples.  There would be a time when fasting and penance would be followed, but not while he was with his apostles. There is a place for rigor in our spiritual journey as we will soon be experiencing with Lent which begins on February 14th. Even now until Easter men following the Exodus 90 program are performing rigorous daily penances and deprivations in order to cleanse their hearts and devote them more totally to JESUS. May we find the new wine, the teachings and example of Jesus and incorporate them into our spiritual journey which will always have a mixture of spiritual freedom and rigorous asceticism.

Bro. Rene 

Dear God thank you for guiding me to you, ultimate joy and spiritual freedom through a balance of  prayer, good works and asceticism. Amen..