The Old Is Good
Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
Luke 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.’”
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers…but yours eat and drink.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
Jesus changes everything—everything. We can’t simply welcome Christ as a guest into our hearts and then leave Him there to sit still and quiet while we continue on with life. When Christ enters in, He gets up and starts moving things around. Jesus finds His way into our attitudes, into our schedules, into our choices, into our relationships, into our deep struggles. We begin to think differently about what we say and do, about how we spend our time and our money, about the way our family interacts and lives.
Jesus changes everything…and it is always a change for the better. If none of our attitudes, schedules, choices, relationships, struggles, etc., are changing, then there might be a problem. We might be shutting God out. Is there an area in our life (our finances, relationships, schedules, situations, decisions, etc.) that we are struggling to allow God into? We must pray for courage to trust that God is in control, and that He is even more concerned for our happiness than we are.
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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