REFLECTION ON THE DAILY GOSPEL 2 SEPTEMBER 2011

This reading has so many messages; it’s hard to focus on one of them.

As the Church represents the bride, our bridegroom has left us to join his Father in heaven. This leaves us hunger for more of his presence, any time he is away from us, we feel this hunger.

Do not fast from the presence of the Lord. Make anew your commitment to him, and solve your transgressions by renewing your spirit with a new skin and love for him. Just like those wineskins and the new wine that goes into them. Over time you will become that “old wine”, mature and content in the presence of the Lord.

THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 2 SEPTEMBER 2011

Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 435

Reading 1 Col 1:15-20

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the Body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the Blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2b) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good,
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 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."

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

REFLECTION ON THE DAILY GOSPEL 1 SEPTEMBER 2011

Simon follows the instructions to put out into deep water. He makes the point that he has already failed to catch fish earlier in the day, but follows Jesus’s instructions anyway.

How many times do we question the call of God to “put out into deep water”. ?

Jesus tells us “Do not be afraid”, for he is with us at all times.

Our faith must guide us and become stronger if we are to do his work. He wants us to be catching men not just the fish in this miracle.