Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: July 5, 2025

Date: Saturday of the 13^th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text:  Matthew 9:14-17

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 wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel text for today is quite deep considering its brevity. First, in response to the question of John the Baptist’s disciples, Jesus identifies himself as “bridegroom.” The wedding guest do not mourn while the bridegroom is present. We, the church are the bride. This is the beginning of Jesus’ teachings on us as believers, the “church”, as being the bride of Christ. Secondly, Jesus presents the parables of patching cloth and of wineskins for new wine. The point of both is that Jesus’ teachings and life cannot be just “tacked on” the old teaching, they are built on the old, but they cannot be contained in the old.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Is my love for Christ as sincere and deep as a bride’s love for her groom? Have I fully opened myself to Christ and allowing Him to transform me or am I limiting Him to what is in my life and asking Him not to change me?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, we come to You this day full of love, of awe, and of gratitude for the gift of your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation. Send your Spirit to open us to your love poured into our lives in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ. Grant that the love of Christ may transform us as yeast transforms whatever it enters. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.