Word to the Wise
Monday, January 17, 2022 - Monday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 15:16-23 and Mark 2:18-22]No one sews a piece of shrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins. [Mark]
JANUARY 17 ST. ANTHONY, abbot
Today, January 17, I am beginning to preach a retreat for priests. Although I am officially "retired" (what we Southern Dominicans call "limited service"), I will still accept an event like this from time to time. The theme of the retreat is: "What kind of wine are you serving?" The title was inspired by the gospel of Sunday about the Wedding Feast of Cana and the wine predicament. The poor wine steward not only ran out of wine, but when Jesus helped out, the steward was accused of keeping the best wine for last! Then I discover this morning that the gospel scripture for the opening day of the retreat is about wine and wineskins - the old and the new.
With regard to the image from the wedding feast, my own experience in aging (and I suspect that of many "eldering" priests) is that we are running out of wine, or at least it feels like that from time to time. Are we just recycling "the old stuff?" Ultimately, we have to follow the instructions the Mother of Jesus tells the wine steward, "Do whatever he tells you!"
With regard to the wineskins and new wine, the Gospel According to Luke shows more appreciation for "old wine." (Luke 5:39) But I think each of us simply has to trust that the Lord knows the strength of our individual wineskins and we need to pour what we have and leave the rest to God. Since I live in a campus ministry community, there are "new things" (at least new to me) constantly being poured into my old wineskin. I think all of us who are priests have to find a way to let the old and the new mix. The Holy Spirit is the winemaker. We just need to "do whatever he tells us to do." AMEN