St. Gregory the Great, pope & doctor

＊＊＊ 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.

 

Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ 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 will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old.  No one puts new wine into old wineskins; 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 get new wine, but says: The old is good.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

 There is a difference between those who just follow and those who lead and create new conversations that enlighten the public. The Pharisees are of the former mold. They just follow what is established by the tradition of the elders.

And they get angry when these Traditions are challenged. They cannot let it pass because it destroys their otherwise neat and ordered world. That is why they complain when they see Jesus's disciples taking liberties with their cherished canon of religious behavior.

They do not devote time to long prayers, nor practice asceticism as the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees do. But Jesus is of the latter mode. He does not follow but creates new paths in understanding God's law.

That is why the religious authorities find him disconcerting. Jesus does not strengthen their cause. As a matter of fact he criticizes it and subverts it. And he does so not out of scorn for them but from a deep understanding of the spirit of the Law.

Thus, confronted by the wisdom of Jesus they can say nothing. But it surely planted hatred in hearts already hurt by the truth that Jesus proclaims.