September 6, 2013

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Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 435

Reading 1COL 1:15-20

Brothers and sisters:

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation.

For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,

the visible and the invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;

all things were created through him and for him.

Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and all things were created through Him and for Him.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

He is before all things,

and in him all things hold together.

In God we live, breathe and are (Acts 17:28).

He is the head of the Body, the Church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

that in all things he himself might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,

and through him to reconcile all things for him,

making peace by the Blood of his cross

through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

We are the Body of Christ.  The Church.  He is the head of the Body, the firstborn and through Him we are all born again of the Holy Spirit, children of God.

Romans 8:10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Responsorial PsalmPS 100:1B-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2b) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good,
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

Give to God your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.  Give to God your whole being.  Give to God all that you have.  Love God with your heart, mind, soul and entire being.

GospelLK 5:33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,

“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,

and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;

but yours eat and drink.”

The Pharisees were complaining that the disciples of Christ were too cheerful.

Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast

while the bridegroom is with them?

But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

then they will fast in those days.”

And Christ said, "that is because I am with them.  But when I am gone, they will fast."

And he also told them a parable.

“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.

Otherwise, he will tear the new

and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.

Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.

Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,

and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.

Jesus here explained why the Old Testament was done away.  The New Testament couldn't simply be a patched up version of the Old.  The New Testament was brand new.  God was doing something new which mankind had not seen before:

Isaiah 43:19  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.

And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,

for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Christ also explained that many of the Jews would not convert to the New Testament because they were accustomed to the Old and would not change.