Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Saturday, 5 July 2014

Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Saturday, 5 July 2014
Meditations: Matthew 9:14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
15 Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. 17 Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.”
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth. (Matthew 9:16)
A businesswoman had an important meeting, so she dressed carefully in her best power suit. But not quite carefully enough. On the train to work, she looked down and saw that she was wearing two mismatched, distinctively different shoes.
Inappropriate combinations show up in today’s Gospel, too. Fasting at a wedding feast. An old cloak repaired with a fabric patch that hasn’t been preshrunk. New wine in brittle leather wineskins that explode as fermentation proceeds.
Jesus used these images to highlight the radical newness of his mission. His good news of “God with us” changed everything. Because God had become flesh, the religious forms that God had given Israel were no longer enough to contain his presence. Like the old cloth and wineskin, the old traditions became inadequate. God was doing something new: not just patching up his creation but totally transforming it, and in a way that requires our wholehearted response.
So what do these images mean for us? Here are two ways to reflect on their practical implications.
Sometimes you have to leave good things behind. When James and John chose to follow Jesus, they left their father sitting alone in the family boat (Matthew 4:21-22). They couldn’t be both fishers of men and fishers of fish. Something to ponder, if you’re facing a major life change. Or perhaps the Lord is inviting you to begin some new activity or responsibility. Can you accept without relinquishing some of the good things you’re already doing? Maybe not. You can’t always have it all—not without coming apart at the seams.
Always, leave behind the bad. Behaviors that violate the commandments are never compatible with Jesus’ new way of living. Just a little gossip, porn, or shoplifting? Never! Your only option is to declare all-out war on these sins and never make peace with them—even if you fall seven times a day. As you resist, you will receive grace to “put away the old self of your former way of life” and “put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22, 24).
“Jesus, help me welcome the new things that you want to do in me. Amen.
Amos 9:11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
    “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
    and the one treading grapes him who sows seed;
    and sweet wine will drip from the mountains,
    and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
    and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
    and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
They shall also make gardens,
    and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
    and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”
    says Yahweh your God. 
Psalms 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
    that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
    Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth springs out of the earth.
    Righteousness has looked down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give that which is good.
    Our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness goes before him,
    And prepares the way for his steps.
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