Wineskin's

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 wineskin's.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskin's, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:14-17

Prayer

Dear Father why do we try to put on a garment that speaks of what we are not. We only fool ourselves then. When you come into our lives and cleanse us of sin with your forgiveness we put on new skin. We are fresh as a newborn, eager for life. But as Jesus has said how can wine that is put in old wineskin's, the skins burst, they are ruined. When we get old our skin is the same, it is thin, but often our thinking is old too. When God comes into our life no matter what age we are, we change, we become new. Our thinking is then part of God and what belongs to God. Having faith without God in our lives is like old wineskin's. We pray to open our hearts fully to God's love so we may be as new wineskin's, holding within us the source of life. May we rejoice with the bridegroom as his presence in the Eucharist brings us life. Amen