Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 8, 2017 - Saturday in the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 27:1-5, 15-29 and Matt 9:14-17]SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2017. SATURDAY IN THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29 and Matthew 9:14-17] "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." [Matthew] The context for today's gospel scripture concerns the joy and newness of the kingdom that Jesus has come to proclaim. It is not a time for mourning, and older ways of understanding God's workings are not strong enough to hold the "new wine" of Jesus' teachings. The wine and wineskins image is one that I find useful for understanding a phenomenon that is occurring in campus ministry and in seminary formation. The two are related because many seminarians are coming from campus ministry programs. These young and idealistic persons seem attracted to liturgical practices that fell into disuse somewhat after the Second Vatican Council. It is not as if they reject the Council (like the "Traditionalitists" who went into schism with Archbishop Lefevre). It is simply that the council and its reforms of the liturgy occurred long before these students were born! They discover certain practices that provide a sense of the sacred and want to use these to express their faith. Old vestments and old liturgical expressions are pulled from the closet of history and given a use in a culture that has moved on from the original context! (I am reminded of going into the attic and putting on clothing that grandparents and parents wore in their youth and then pretending to live in "the good old days." ). Pope Benedict XVI made it easier to revive these under a rubric of "the extraordinary form." (This includes the old Dominican rite, which I admit I loved.). I find it difficult to join in the practices even if I know how to use them in their older context. But that older context (old wineskins) doesn't exist anymore. Jesus' warning about pouring new wine into the old skins is one that seems to have been forgotten, and I feel like I'm keeping a mop handy for the spills that will inevitably occur. AMEN
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