Gospel Reflection

September 07, 2012

Friday

Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart

by Rev. Fr. Joseph “Joey” Faller (Spiritual Director of the Kamay ni Hesus Healing Center, Lucban Quezon Province)

Lunch Mass at Megamall, Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord

First Reading:               1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Psalm:                         Psalm 37:3-6, 27-28, 39-40

Gospel:                        Luke 5:33-39    

33 And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." 34 And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." 36 He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, `The old is good.'”

HOMILY

Dalawang bagay lang po ang nais kong bigyan ng pansin sa ating banal na Ebanghelyo ngayon. Una po ay ang simbolismo ng alak. Wine symbolizes abundant blessings and the Messianic banquet in heaven, na hindi nauubos, hindi nawawala ang selebrasyon. Ang alak ay nagsisimbolismo ng kagalakan. The message is very clear in the Gospel - that is, to be with the Lord is to rejoice. Kahit na may problema, kahit na maraming karamdaman, kahit na maraming pinagdaraanang mga bagay na hindi maintindihan, if you are with the Lord, then you experience joy and happiness. To be in the presence of the Lord, is to enjoy life to the fullest - although we are wounded, although we are hurting, although we are suffering, we still manage to enjoy, because the presence of the Lord is more than enough for us to experience true happiness with Jesus.

The second point is - Jesus does not just symbolize new wine. He symbolizes new life. The new wine symbolizes new life. Jesus symbolizes the New Covenant, the new sacrifice. The Old Covenant, which is done by the offering of the blood of animals, has been transcended by the most pleasing sacrifice ever offered to the Father, and that is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Anybody who is in Christ will become a new creation. Kaya po binanggit doon sa Banal na Kasulatan, ang bagong alak ay para sa bagong lalagyan ng alak, ang lumang alak ay para sa lumang lalagyan ng alak. Tayo na namumuhay kay Kristo, must always do away with our own life of sin and corruption, and live the new life that the Lord is giving us.

Minsan pare-pareho lang, inuulit lang ang buhay natin - sometimes we get bored - gigising, sisimba, papasok - ayan na naman. But if you are with Lord, every moment is a new opportunity. Every day is a new day for us. It is a new hope for us - a new opportunity, a new challenge for us, because we have been invigorated, renewed by the presence of the Lord in our life. St. Paul says this, "Anybody who is in Christ, is a new creation". Tayo po na nakikipagkaisa kay Kristo ay patuloy na babaguhin ng Panginoon - bagong puso, bagong buhay, bagong isip, bagong Pilipinas, bagong Pilipino, bagong pag-asa ng bayan.