Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: July 6, 2024

Date: Saturday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text:  MT 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:

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus responds to John the Baptist’s disciples questioning of why his disciples do not fast, hinting that the disciples will fast after his death. Jesus calls himself the bridegroom and we realize we are the bride. We can understand that there is no fasting at a wedding. But then Jesus gives us 2 examples of trying to mix the old with the new, neither of which work. Jesus is the new. Jesus brings us the new way of relating to our LORD, of loving our LORD.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Do I seek to follow Christ with loving joy? Do I cling to my “old ways” or put these down so that I might more deftly follow in Jesus’ footsteps?

Praying:

LORD, grant that I may recognize You in my days, my hours, my moments. Fill me with your presence. Open my mind and heart so that You may remain in me. Help me to put down my insistences for your will. Make me your new creation. Amen.