Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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.’”

They fast often

1. Pharisees. There’s often a bit of a Pharisee in all of us—that urge to control everyone around us, even dictating how others should live their lives and what decisions they should make. That’s why it’s so important not to become a control freak. Don’t be the kind of person who constantly tries to run other people’s lives, hiding behind titles like “mom,” “dad,” “priest,” or whatever. At the end of the day, when you’re trying to control everyone else’s life, it’s often because you haven’t figured out how to manage your own.

2. The bridegroom. This also teaches us that many people focus more on rituals than on the God those rituals are meant to lead us to. Sometimes we lose sight of the true goal and get caught up in the means of getting there. When you stop focusing on what really matters, you’re left with only the surface. I remember that during my first year as a priest, I used to judge other priests by how they dressed or spoke. I thought a certain clerical habit made someone important, impressive, or extraordinary. But over time, I realized that what truly matters is what’s in the heart.

3. Patch. Some things belong in the past, and you can’t bring them into the present. In the same way, you can’t build a different future by relying on the same old formulas. If you want real change in your life, you’ll need to make new choices. To change your direction, you have to change your decisions.

Never forget that something good is on the way!

God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.