Word of the day

A reading from the Letter to the Colossians
Col 1:15-20

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the Body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the Blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 5:33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

For new wine, new wineskins. The newness of the Gospel. What does the Gospel bring us? Joy and newness. These doctors of the law were locked into their commandments, their instructions. Some of you may say to me, “But, Father, do Christians have no laws?”; Yes! Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law…but to fulfill (it).” And the fullness of the law, for example, are the Beatitudes, the law of love, total love, as He - Jesus - loved us. For new wine, new wineskins. And that is why the Church asks us, all of us, for some changes. The Church is asking us to put aside fallen structures: they are of no use! And to take new wineskins, those of the Gospel. (Homily, Santa Marta, 5 September 2014)