January 20, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint Fabian, Pope and Martyr; Optional Memorial of Saint Sebastian, Martyr
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Mark 2:18-22
Reflect on the Word//
Fairly set in my ways, I knew shifting to a new morning routine wouldn’t necessarily be easy. But I was willing to try. After all, a baby needs an adaptable mom. It became clear my morning routine of slow sips of coffee and a leisurely wake up wasn’t viable anymore. There was now a new baby, with lots of needs, first thing in the morning. She was new, and in some ways, so was I. And my old ways couldn’t fit into the newness of it all. I needed to make some room in my routines, or even build new ones all together, and not just try to squeeze old things into this new life as a new mom.
The usual ways, the familiar routines, the old wine is comfortable and what we’re used to, so making those changes isn’t always easy. New wine may taste different. New routines might require new methods. And why do something new when old is usual and expected, familiar and practiced?
But the new wine and the old wineskins aren’t compatible, for the fermentation process would burst the old leather. The old wineskins are already stretched to their limit. They’ve held wine before, so the new wine, freshly fermented, would burst the seams because of the expanding gasses in this new wine. The new demands of wholehearted faith, and the new invitations to be with Jesus, require a flexibility and openness to what more the Lord has to offer.
When Jesus reminded His listeners (who surely knew already) that the new wine can’t go into the old wineskins (see Mark 2:22), it wasn’t because He was being legalistic or meticulous about a beverage. He was challenging us to consider that we might need to embrace Him in new ways, not just trying to shove Jesus into old routines or rhythms in our life. He calls each of us to continually open our hearts to receive something new from Him. Jesus isn’t an afterthought to be in the leftover parts of our heart. Jesus is the new wine, the Bridegroom, for Whom space must be made, and newness in our own life embraced. He wants to make our hearts new every single day.
Relate to the Lord // What “old ways” do you need to let go of to make room for Jesus?
Katie Prejean McGrady is an international speaker and award winning four books. She hosts The Katie McGrady Show on Sirius XM's The Catholic Channel and the Ave Explores podcast with Ave Maria Press, the Like a Mother podcast with OSV, and Family Mass Prep on the Hallow App. She tries to create a happy and cozy home in Lake Charles, Louisiana with her husband, Tommy, and daughters, Rose and Clare.
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