Gospel: Mt 9:14–17
The disciples of John came to him with the question, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?”
Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.
“No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don’t put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved.”
REFLECTION
We all operate on two levels of consciousness: the first consciousness, or the Esau personality, propels our physical life and focuses on the self. Its actions and desires are motivated by the quest for self-preservation and self-gratification. The second consciousness, or the Jacob personality, is drawn to its divine source, striving to become one with the all-pervading truth of God. When we have two distinct personalities living within the same body, it is hard to expect our inner workings to be an inviolable whole. Why are even the most spiritually refined people vulnerable to earthly, animalistic cravings? And why is it so much more difficult to talk to God than to gossip?
Through prayer, reflection and meditation, an intense, divine energy can overcome our animal personality. The animal personality desperately needs the continuous guidance and discipline of its divine counterpart for cultivation and refinement. But, in this process, the animal personality grants the spiritual personality a boundless creativity and passion that it could never attain on its own. It is only through union that our twin personalities can reach their ultimate potential; and it is in our collaboration with God that we fulfill the objective for which we were created!
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. /http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/daily-gospel/07/03/09/gospel-july-04-2009-saturday
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