FRESH BLESSINGS We often seek blessings, whether from drops of holy water sprinkled on us during ceremonies in church or from members of the clergy by taking their hand and touching it on our forehead. There is nothing superstitious or idolatrous with these. Blessings simply mean fullness of life, abundance and protection, most especially from God, the source of all good things. In our typically human categories, we want tangible ways and means for those blessings to be communicated to us. Our readings today, on the other hand, make use of imageries to depict blessings. The prophet Amos uses agricultural terms: “Yes, days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; the juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it.” Jesus in the Gospel, on the other hand, prefers a wedding imagery to talk about the blessings that accompany the arrival of God’s reign in Him and in His ministry. In this second instance, there is a “leveling up.” Even if Jesus uses parables, He nevertheless declares convincingly that in Him God is blessing Israel in a new way — not anymore like before in the Old Testament. This newness which Jesus brings shakes up and shatters old categories and conventions and brings with it fresh perspectives and paradigms. How open are we to the Lord’s fresh prods? Or even to His disturbing interventions or urgings to reform? Insisting on the status quo or on our old ways of living our faith and spiritual life might not do us good anymore. As though continuing the wine imagery from the First Reading, Jesus insists that new wine should be poured into fresh wineskins. A win-win situation results: both wine and wineskins are preserved. That would be a marvelous blessing for us. Whether through tangible ways or through imageries, God always sends us fresh, new blessings. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB REFLECTION QUESTION: How open are you to God’s fresh proddings to you? Do you tend to cling on to your old way of life even when the Lord is calling you to change? Lord God, I welcome You into my life. May I be a worthy “wineskin” of Your fresh blessings.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 05:04:52 +0000
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