Word to the Wise
Monday, January 19, 2026 - Monday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 15:16-23 and Mark 2:18-22]"No one sews a piece of unshrunken 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]
One of the more enduring tensions in the Catholic world since the Second Vatican Council has been the one between "continuity" and "reform." It reminds me of the beer commercial where two guys argue about what should be emphasized about a particular beer: "Tastes great!" versus "Less filling!" Jesus' image of patching a cloak captures some of the tension. He was definitely "something new" and the defenders (scribes, Pharisees) did not know what to do about him. The Gospel According to Matthew makes a point of showing how Jesus was not really "new" but simply the "fulfillment" of what had gone before in the Law and the prophets. But that fulfillment did not mean "business as usual!" Jesus' casual attitude about certain practices in Jewish life earned him a lethal hostility, let alone the claim to be the Son of God! Jesus did not come to bless a status quo. The life of the world would change and continues to change. The post-Pentecost history of Christianity shows us the struggle to establish a single message about Jesus while allowing for creative preaching and practice to meet changing circumstances. The Holy Spirit received at Pentecost has guided the very messy historical process.
TRADITION and "traditions" will continue to live in tension with one another like siblings! The same Holy Spirit that the disciples received in the upper room will continue to guide our faith [TRADITION] through the various "traditions" that we invent to express it! AMEN
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