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Theo Tigno•
1/18/2009 8:53 pm
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Monday, January 19th 2009 |
Mark 2:18-22
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."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for a greater and smarter use of technology to spread the Gospel message.
The more I read the Gospels, the more and more I see how Jesus was revealing Himself. In last Friday's reading, He revealed a glimpse of Who He was when He first forgave the sins of the paralytic.
Today, He reveals Himself to the people as "The Bridegroom."
In my search for "Jesus as Bridegroom," I came across this writing from the late Pope John Paul II preciously on today's reading:
http://tinyurl.com/7nszsw
Here is an excerpt from that that document:
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He is the bridegroom who announces his wedding feast, the wedding feast of love between God and humanity. He is the bridegroom who wants to communicate his joy. The bridegroom's friends are invited to share it by coming to the wedding feast.
However, precisely in this wedding context, Jesus announces the time when he will no longer be present: "The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day" (Mk 2:20): it is a clear reference to his sacrifice. Jesus knows that the joy will be followed by sadness. Then the disciples will "fast", that is, they will suffer as they participate in his Passion.
Christ's coming on earth, with all the joy it involves for humanity, is inseparably linked to suffering. The wedding feast is marked by the drama of the Cross but it will culminate in paschal joy.
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Take care and God Bless.
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