Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 5, 2025 - Saturday in the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 27:1-5, 15-29 and Matt 9:14-17]"No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. 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]
One of the classic Latin phrases in referring to continuity and change in the Church is ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. Translated literally it means "The reformed Church is always in need of further reform." Another way of capturing its meaning is to say that the Church is not a static reality, never in need of change, but rather a living and dynamic reality that requires, as the Second Vatican Council put it, that it read "the signs of the times" and adjust so that the gospel may be more effectively preached to the world. Jesus speaks to this reality in responding to the disciples of John the Baptist who note that he and his disciples did not fast like the Pharisees.
The Gospel According to Matthew was addressed primarily to a Jewish-Christian community. They were encountering opposition and persecution because they were following the example of Jesus in regard to the Mosaic Law. He is presented as something very new and it is faith in him and not observance of the law that is necessary to be righteous. He is the "fulfillment" of all that the Mosaic Law was designed to accomplish and offers a new continuity. A Jewish-Christian could continue to observe the law but it was not required as a matter of faith.
Some Catholics who grew up in the 400 years that followed the Council of Trent (ecclesia reformata), especially in the first half of the 20th century, have found the changes instituted by the Vatican II council (ecclesia reformanda) to be very disturbing. Some have gone so far as to separate from the Church, proclaiming themselves to be the "true" Catholic church. The popes from John XXIII to Francis have responded to the schism as well as the continuing tension in different ways and it remains to be seen how Pope Leo XIV will respond. The debate over the Mosaic Law was resolved in favor of Gentile Christians, and Jewish observance gradually disappeared from the Christian church. Change in what is perceived to be permanent, lasting and transcendent does not occur easily. Jesus' own life and preaching led to his death at the hands of those who resented his changing things. Reformata must always be accompanied by reformanda. AMEN