Daily Gospel Reflection – Friday after Ash Wednesday
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Gospel: Mt 9:14-15
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.”
*United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus why he and his disciples do not fast when John and his disciples do. Jesus’ answer is wonderful: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” Could you imagine people fasting at a wedding banquet? It would be ridiculous!
Jesus later says, “People do not put new wine into old wineskins.” The new wine is the Gospel. The receptacle for this wine must be conformed to it, not the other way around.
To take in the Good News, we can’t be living in the cramped space of our sinful souls. We can’t have an “expect the worst” attitude. Instead we repent, or change the minds that we have. Another way to get at this is to say that like is known by like. If God is love, then only a soul that is on fire with love will properly take him in.
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