New Wineskins
Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
Matthew 9: 14-17 – The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunk cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“People do not put new wine into old wineskins… Rather, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
To better understand what Jesus is getting at by His analogies, we should look at their context In the Gospel, Jesus has just called Matthew, has eaten a meal with sinners, had a run-in with the Pharisees about it, and been questioned by John the Baptist’s disciples about it. Jesus is saying by this analogy that something new is here: Himself! He is saying that things can’t just go on the same way as they did before He was there.
Jesus changes everything. Just like when a young man meets the woman he is going to marry, or when a couple has their first child—everything changes. The Messiah, the King, the Lord, has arrived, and things cannot be the same any more. If we set out on a serious life with Jesus, we can’t expect our lives to look the same as before. If we try to hold on to our old lives, habits, plans, social activities, and schedules, our relationship with Him will weaken. Only a whole new way of life will have enough room for Jesus. There’s an old saying, “out with the old; in with the new.” What old things do we still need to get rid of?
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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