Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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 unshrunken 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.”
The new: a life process
1. The Bridegroom. In your spiritual life, there are moments when everything feels beautiful and uplifting, when you connect with God faster than you connect to the internet. This period is filled with joy; attending Mass feels natural and you leave with a deep sense of fulfilment, or praying the Rosary becomes something you do with eagerness, perhaps even more than once. These moments of happiness are a gift meant to fortify your soul with grace. During this time, I recommend writing down your experiences in a journal. Document all those beautiful encounters with Jesus, with the Bridegroom, so you can remember that God is alive and present in your life in many wonderful ways.
2. Fasting. I’d like to give this concept another interpretation. We all go through phases of spiritual dryness, when prayer becomes a struggle, when you don’t feel like going to Mass, and when you do, you find it hard to endure a priest whose homily lasts 45 minutes—trust me, even I wouldn’t handle that easily! It’s during these dry times that we must offer our struggles to God and live off the memories of the joyful moments when Christ felt close. In those times, I encourage you to revisit the experiences you’ve written down; they can serve as a source of encouragement and strength to push forward.
3. The new. Once you’ve experienced both the previous stages, closeness and dryness, you get to discover something new. After enduring spiritual dryness, a fresh grace comes into your life, altering your perspective and your way of living. This is why a process is necessary; you can’t remain stagnant. Spiritual life is dynamic; it involves seasons of dryness and seasons of fruitful harvest, all culminating in the emergence of something new. New aspects of your life will arise that will bring you greater joy. May God accompany you throughout this spiritual journey.
Always remember that something good is on the way.
God bless you and guard you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
