New wineskins, new mornings

Good News Reflection
Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
January 18, 2010

Today's Readings:
1 Samuel 15:16-23
Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
Mark 2:18-22
http://www.usccb.org/nab/011810.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_01_18.mp3

New wineskins, new mornings

Do you know why we have mornings? Why do we need to go to sleep and wake up every day, day after day?

Mornings are a sign of God's great mercy! He gives us new opportunities to make a fresh start every 24 hours. When I was a child, one of the greatest lessons my father taught me was to never make important decisions at night, because the view is clearer and brighter in the morning.

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus reminds us that if we pour new wine into old wineskins, the skins burst and we lose everything. Think of the new spiritual growth that you've experienced lately. Are you trying to pour your new life into old ways of doing things? I hope not, because this works as successfully as a pig getting a bath – he always returns to his mud. It's like making a New Year's resolution to lose weight and then stocking your kitchen with sweets. It's like reading the lives of Saints and then admiring the heroes on television who win their goals using immoral methods.

Less obvious but more significant, it's like following God's commands the way King Saul did in today's first reading, starting out in the right direction but making compromises along the way and opting to sin.

When we set out on the right path (e.g., doing God's will, listening well for his guidance, purifying our behaviors, and working hard to avoid sin), it's appropriate to pat ourselves on the back for our spiritual maturity. But the sound of the pat-pat-patting easily distracts us from the quiet voice of God as he tells us what to do or learn next. We become complacent. The day ends but we get stuck in the dark night, because our decisions hold us back from following Christ into new mornings.

In our earthly pilgrimage to heaven, there's no such thing as sitting still. Evil forces will tempt us louder and stronger whenever we're not working hard to move closer to God. They put a lot of effort into pulling us back into old ways and wrong paths. We need to put at least that much effort into moving forward in holiness.

To enjoy the new wine of spiritual growth, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. To do this, we have to remain ever-aware that we're always in danger of straying onto the wrong path, the old path, the self-centered path, the prideful path. We need to remain ever-aware that unless God is helping us, we are going to sin again at any moment.

This is why we need mornings. No matter what we did yesterday, each awakening gives us new opportunities to turn away from yesterday's old wineskins and embrace the life of holiness anew. We can receive Jesus in the new wine of his Eucharistic Blood (ahhh, the blessings of being able to attend Daily Mass!) and choose to stay with him wherever he leads.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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