DAILY- HOMILY

FRIDAY, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Green.

1 Cor 4: 1 - 5 I Lk 5: 33 – 39

FROM THE 1ST READING:             1 Cor 4: 1 - 4

Let everyone then see us as the servants of Christ and stewards of the secret works of God. Being stewards, faithfulness shall be demanded of us, but I do not mind if you or any human court judges me. I do not even judge myself; my conscience indeed does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with God: the Lord is the one who judges me.

GOSPEL READING:           Lk 5: 33 - 39

Some people asked Jesus, "The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why it is 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."

REFLECTION

Many people are afraid of change. In the time of Christ, the leaders and teachers of the Jewish people had many minute rules and practices: they expected these to be followed and they were afraid of any change.

The leaders of the Jews saw the ministry of Jesus as a challenge to the religious practices they had, to the life they had dedicated themselves to. They were then suspicious of Jesus and his teaching. As Jesus drew more followers, they were even resentful of Jesus, especially when they saw Jesus seeming to challenge their authority and practices.

Indeed, while the Church is a divine institution founded by Christ and protected by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is led by ordinary men and women and Christian life is led in a changing world. Key doctrine and morals will remain unchanged but changes are needed as people and times change in many other aspects of the Church and of Christian life and practice.

A key word for Vatican Council II, convoked in 1962 and completed in 1965, was aggiomamento, renewal or bringing up-to-date. The Church renewed its vision of itself from Biblical sources; its liturgical practices were simplified and clarified; it opened up itself to the modern world. Fifty years from Vatican Council II, the Church remains the same Church, though renewed and revitalized.

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