＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

 Colossians 1: 15-20

He is the image of the unseen God,

and for all creation he is the firstborn, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible: thrones, rulers, authorities, powers…All was made through him and for him. He is before all and all things hold together in him. And he is the head of the body, that is the Church, for he is the first, the first rais­ed from the dead that he may be the first in everything, for God was pleased to let fullness dwell in him.

 Through him God willed to reconcile all things to himself, and through him, through his blood shed on the cross, God establishes peace, on earth as in heaven.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 5: 33-39

Some people asked him, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them, “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them.

 But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.” Jesus also told them this parable, “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new coat will be torn and the piece taken from the new coat will not match the old coat.

No one puts new wine into old wine skins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well.  But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to drink new wine, but says: The old is good.”

 

Reflection gospel：

“NEW WINE MUST BE PUT INTO FRESH SKINS.”

We might call the Jesus Christ event, his incarnation, saving activities, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, as a “divine visitation” (Brendan Byrne), where God became historically present in Jesus, bringing and demonstrating his pure and all embracing love. The visitation is radical in nature.

It brought the consciousness and expectations of people in Jesus’ days upside down. It opposed the prevailing system of abuse and exploitation; it exposed hypocrisy. It brought to the fore the saving love of God and the value and dignity of the human person before him.

The divine visitation in Jesus left a legacy of love, mercy and compassion. This legacy is culture-changing; it is changing the culture of death, hatred and destruction. The legacy goes against the attitude of indifference and carelessness. Jesus love, mercy and compassion are life-changing and life-giving. They bring hope.

And they are only welcomed by a converted heart, the heart that allows itself to be touched by them, the heart that opens up itself to the truth, and the heart that delights only with the authentically good and valuable. The converted heart is the fresh skin that receives Jesus’ legacy of love, mercy and compassion.