Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 17, 2022
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
Today the nation celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to recognize the tremendous contribution Dr. King, his family, and so many others made to the cause of racial justice. MLK Day has become such a regular part of our civic tradition that it hardly seems controversial, but while King lived many people reviled him.
In a national poll in 1966, only 28 percent of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of the civil rights leader. Unfortunately, many fellow Christians at that time were often the most strenuous in their opposition to King and efforts to defeat Jim Crow segregation.
Jesus understood rejection. In this passage from the Gospel of Mark, the Pharisees challenge Jesus for not keeping the rules of fasting. Jesus responds by telling them that he is doing something new. “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins,” he explains. “Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
The new wine of which Jesus spoke was the new covenant in his blood. It was revealed so that humanity would be reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The old wineskins of how the Pharisees believed and acted could not contain this new wine, and eventually, their rejection of Jesus led them to crucify him.
The Good News naturally entails loving one’s neighbor through the pursuit of justice. But in a world that embraces divisions and hierarchies, pursuing racial justice can be like putting new wine into old wineskins.
As we ponder Christ’s words and the remembrance of MLK, how may we contribute to the pursuit of justice? How are we called as Christians to be those new wineskins that can receive the new wine of justice in the communities within which we live, work, and worship?
The Church must be the new wineskin that serves as a vessel for the good news made real through tangible acts of bridge-building and resistance to racial oppression. Only then will Dr. King’s dream of an integrated and just society, one that mirrors the vision of heaven, become a reality.
Prayer
Lord, give us time today to be silent and prayerful, conscious of your personal presence, moment by moment, sustaining us in all our experiences and relationships. Call us to new decisions for faithfulness and generosity, and whenever you call us by name may we reply, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Anthony the Abbot is the famous father of monasticism in the Church—he took the Gospel literally and gave everything away to seek God in prayer.
Anthony was born in Egypt in 251, and when his parents died when he was about 20 years old, he assumed responsibility for the family’s 300 acres and for the care of his sister.
One day at Mass, he heard the words of Jesus proclaimed from this Gospel passage: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mt 19:21). The passage moved him to action, and he walked out of the Church at that moment and gave away all of his property except what he and his sister needed for sustenance.
Later, he heard Jesus’ words from this passage: “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil” (Mt 6:34). He immediately gave away the rest of their property and entrusted his sister to the care of a convent. He began a simple life on the outskirts of town, embracing only prayer, fasting, and manual labor.
When he was thirty-five, he moved even further out of town to live alone in an abandoned fort. He received rations of bread only a few times a year and spoke to people through a crack in the wall. By this time, he was becoming well-known for his faithfulness and wisdom and people sought him out for counsel and healing.
Feeling disturbed by the crowds who were seeking him out, he went deep into the desert, where he lived by a small spring of water. His life took on a rhythm of prayer and work, a pattern that continues to sustain monastic communities today. Soon, hundreds of people followed his example by going into the desert to live an ascetical life of prayer, and they began to loosely congregate into communities.
During his time in the desert, Anthony became friends with St. Paul the Hermit, whose feast day fell two days ago. The two friends are depicted in murals that face one another in the Basilica, and they are also shown receiving bread from a bird in this woodcut from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. Relics of both of them stand in the reliquary chapel.
Anthony died at the age of one hundred and five. St. Athanasius, who knew Anthony and wrote his story, said, "Anthony was not known for his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God." He is depicted here with a book of Scripture that is aflame because God’s word sparked a fire in him to devote his whole life to God.
St. Anthony the Abbot, who sought perfection by giving away everything in order to seek treasure in heaven—pray for us!
Image credit: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), St. Anthony Visits St. Paul in the Wilderness, ca. 1503, woodcut. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Acquired with funds provided by the Humana Endowment for American Art, 1991.001.157.