Daily Reflections - January 16, 2012

FEASTING AND FASTING

I am sure that if you were invited to a wedding party, you would not fast. It would be a terrible offense to the newlyweds and hosts of the celebration. People would look at you strangely and you might have all kinds of unnecessary comments coming your way. The wedding is a feast of life and love. It is a time to feast, not fast.
Jesus uses a metaphor of the wedding to describe His presence. He is the Bridegroom and we are the Church, His bride. He has come to wed us to Himself, to God in a nuptial, covenantal relationship. To borrow an Old Testament phrase: “You are my people and I am your God.” John the Baptist also describes Jesus as the Bridegroom. He is the friend who is overjoyed at the arrival of the Bridegroom (John 3:29-30). As it was in Jesus’ day, where wedding celebrations could take days, weddings today are always a cause for rejoicing, feasting and celebration. Jesus says there will be a time when there will be fasting. The Bridegroom will be taken away from them. He was alluding to His passion and death.
Jesus comes to bring new life. Every wedding celebration is a feast of new life. Two people become one body. God’s plan of love is fulfilled when man and woman come together in matrimony. A new life of oneness, unity and indissolubility begins. This is also the case with Jesus. He brings new wine that overflows into our hearts through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The old goat skins that hold the wine can no longer be. There is need for new skins, new bones and new bodies to contain the wine of God’s love.
Our lives are made new in the marriage of the Lamb, a term borrowed from the Book of Revelation. Jesus, the Lamb of God, has shed His blood and opens a new way for us to God (Revelation 21:9-11, 14:4). Now there is access between God and man through Jesus. Let us open our lives to this new wine that will grow and develop as we mature in the grace of the Spirit. Renewal, revival and restoration abound in Jesus. Let us be open to it. Fr. Brian Steele, MGL

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: In what areas of your life do you need the new wine of the Spirit? Is it in your relationships, family ties, work place or mindset?

Come, Lord Jesus, and fill me with the wine of Your Spirit. Let me abide by Your teachings of love, peace and justice. Amen.