All is made new by God who meets us where we are.
The old wineskins of the old Testament did not manage to accommodate the new wine of Jesus’s message.
"But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast." 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

1Corinthians 4:1-5

 Let everyone then see us

As the servants of Christ and stewards of the secret works of God.  Be­ing stewards, faithful­ness shall be demanded of us;   but I do not mind if you or any human court judges me. I do not even judge myself;  my conscience indeed does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with God: the Lord is the one who judges me.

 Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the coming of the Lord. He will bring to light whatever was hidden in dark­ness and will disclose the secret intentions of the hearts. Then each one will receive praise from God.

 

Ps 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

 Luke 5:33-39

 Some people asked him, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them, “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.”

 Jesus also told them this parable, “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well. 

But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says: The old is good.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Why? Fast?

Fasting for fasting’s sake is no benefit for the soul. Fasting undertaken for selfish goals is harmful. When one fasts for the right purposes and with the right spirit, one would know when to begin and when to end.

Here are some insights from Mahatma Gandhi, who defined fasting as satyagraha (holding on to truth): “Fasting and prayer therefore are a most powerful process of purification and that which purifies necessarily enable us the better to do our duty and to attain our goal.

If therefore fasting and prayer seem at times not to answer, it is not because there is nothing in them but because the right spirit is not behind them….. There is no prayer without fasting, taking fasting in its widest sense.

A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer. ‘Take my life and let it be always, only, all for Thee’ is not, should not be, a mere lip or figurative expression.”