Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 3, 2021
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.’”
Jesus reminds us today how there is a time for the old and for the new, but they are not the same. His way is different from the old way and people are not pleased—feasting instead of fasting? How unsettling. Change can be uncomfortable; it can be scary. Jesus doesn’t say that the old is bad. There is a place for the old way—holding delicious, aged wine. The old can be meaningful and useful. But there is a rightful place for it, and its beauty comes through only in the appropriate setting.
Jesus doesn’t call us just to enjoy the old, to be content in the comfortable. He calls us to be open to receiving the new wine so that through our relationship with him, we may partake in the delicious wine of eternal life one day.
This change takes time, and I become impatient. We are challenged to embrace the new identities and roles he is using to transform us into something altogether different—could the grapes of the vineyard ever fathom what they would become?
Right now, I am feeling uncomfortable in many of my new roles. Being a Catholic wife is sometimes difficult, supporting family through suffering is confusing, and even loving neighbors who give lawn care tips can be exasperating! But each opportunity is a part of God’s plan to change me into something more beautiful than my wildest imaginings. The wine is being made better with each passing day if I choose to let God work in and through me.
Where has God challenged our old ways of life lately? Are we choosing to let the Lord work by choosing mercy, patience and joy?
Come, Holy Spirit, give us the strength and the humility to consciously and repeatedly open our hearts to the new ways God has chosen for us.
Prayer
Jesus, we know that you are always with us, leading and guiding us through your Spirit. At the same time, we long for that time when we will experience the fullness of your presence in the wedding feast of heaven. We ask that you send your Spirit to strengthen us through the difficulties of this life so that we may be prepared even now for life eternal. We ask this in your most holy name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Gregory the Great was a civilian official before becoming a monk, a cardinal, and finally, one of the most influential popes the Church has ever known.
He was born in 540, the son of a wealthy Roman senator. He was educated by the best teachers in Rome, and when he was still a young man, the emperor named him chief magistrate of Rome.
He filled this role for five years but clearly had other desires on his heart than his political career. When his father died, Gregory turned his home into a monastery and became a monk. He used his inheritance to build six other monasteries in the region.
When it came time to select a new pope, the faithful unanimously selected him by popular acclaim. As pope, Gregory was filled with zeal—he worked tirelessly and his contributions profoundly shaped the life of the Church.
As leader of the Church, he kept a close watch over the clergy and encouraged them towards holiness. He used papal money to ransom prisoners and to care for persecuted Jews and victims of famine and sickness. People of his day called him the father of the city of Rome, and the joy of the world.
He once observed English children being sold in the Roman Forum as slaves, and the sight made him decide to send missionaries to Canterbury—this was the beginning of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. He also sent missionaries to France, Spain, and parts of Africa during a time when Europe was being overturned by Lombards, barbarian forces from the north. These efforts helped Christianize these forces—Gregory himself went to visit the king of the Lombards.
Gregory is known best for his contributions to the liturgy. He reformed the Mass and the daily prayer of the Church and wrote prayers we still use today as well as commentaries on Scripture that shaped theology through the Middle Ages. He also collected melodies of plain chant used in the liturgy—today that style is known as Gregorian chant, after him.
Gregory is one of the four great doctors of the Church, along with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome. These four and 33 other doctors have been singled out for their ability to articulate and teach the faith.
Gregory died in 604, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. He is patron of teachers and students, musicians and masons. He is depicted in several places on campus, here in stained glass from the Basilica and the second window from the chapel in Lyons Hall. He is often shown with a bird nearby—it is said that the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove spoke into his ear when he preached.
“The proof of love is in the works,” St. Gregory said. “Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.”
Pope St. Gregory the Great, you were the monk who became one of the greatest popes ever—pray for us!