22nd Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Col 1:15–20
Gospel: Lk 5:33–39
The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them, “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.”
Jesus also told them this parable, “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well. But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says: The old is good.”

Commentary
Now we can rest in hope. We stand in faith, walk in love, and rest in hope. We know that this life is not all there is, that one day we will experience eternal life in all its fullness. This is the hope of every Christian. The philosophy of our world is instant gratification. Buy now, pay later. We are not conditioned to hope for anything. And we certainly don’t want to wait for anything. But our hope of Heaven enables us to endure anything, because we know that nothing will be able to keep us from our inheritance.
Hope makes us willing to endure, even sacrifice for future glory. Hope allows us to rest in God’s promises. We don’t focus enough on hope. We don’t focus enough on heaven. It gives us the perspective to live in the here and now. It enables us to recognize what is really important and eternal and what is temporary and fleeting. Christ changes us so that we become world changers ourselves. We become representatives of the power of God to transform a human life, representatives of our faith in Christ, our love for one another, and our hope in God’s eternal life!

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