The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/070415.cfm) reminds me that the decision to live a new life should be done everyday.
Saying and doing are two different things. You can say one thing, but do the exact opposite. That is why saying and doing goes hand in hand. Jesus tells us a similar thing. New wine into new wineskin. Consistency.
When we decided to follow Christ, we are in effect throwing away our old life – with all its worldliness and sin, and are putting on a new self – one made in the image and likeness of Christ. And this is not a one time decision. This should be lived and acted upon everyday. This is a decision we have to make daily, we have to live daily, we have to profess daily.
We cannot claim to be followers of Christ, but continue to live a life of sin. Just like putting new wine into old wineskins. It’s not a match. We cannot act right in some aspects of our lives, while retaining some sins we like or not fully letting go of bad things in our lives. It just does not work that way.
No matter how difficult it is, we should constantly strive to live new lives. We should take a fresh start everyday and live pleasing to God, fitting for the new wineskins God has given us. Else, everything will burst and will be put into waste.
Have I really decided to live a life for Christ? Am I actually doing my best to live it? Do I decide and act upon it everyday? What old habits and sins have I not given up yet? What things should I let go to really live a new life for Christ? What is holding me back from giving them up?
Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. thank you for another weekend. Thank you for the opportunity to rest and spend time with family and friends. As I live this day, may I do things that will make you happy. Help me to live a life pleasing to you. help me to choose you. May I continuously strive to live a new life for you, no matter how challenging it may be, and no matter how strong the urge to go back to my old life. Amen.
Blessed weekend!
In Christ,
-g-
Ps
See related reflection:
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July 4, 2015
Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 382
Reading 1 Gn 27:1-5, 15-29
When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him,
he called his older son Esau and said to him, “Son!”
“Yes father!” he replied.
Isaac then said, “As you can see, I am so old
that I may now die at any time.
Take your gear, therefore–your quiver and bow–
and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.
With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like,
and bring it to me to eat,
so that I may give you my special blessing before I die.”
Rebekah had been listening
while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau.
So, when Esau went out into the country
to hunt some game for his father,
Rebekah [then] took the best clothes of her older son Esau
that she had in the house,
and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;
and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands
and the hairless parts of his neck.
Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish
and the bread she had prepared.
Bringing them to his father, Jacob said, “Father!”
“Yes?” replied Isaac. “Which of my sons are you?”
Jacob answered his father: “I am Esau, your first-born.
I did as you told me.
Please sit up and eat some of my game,
so that you may give me your special blessing.”
But Isaac asked, “How did you succeed so quickly, son?”
He answered,
“The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me.”
Isaac then said to Jacob,
“Come closer, son, that I may feel you,
to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
So Jacob moved up closer to his father.
When Isaac felt him, he said,
“Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s.”
(He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy,
like those of his brother Esau;
so in the end he gave him his blessing.)
Again he asked Jacob, “Are you really my son Esau?”
“Certainly,” Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said, “Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it
and then give you my blessing.”
Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate;
he brought him wine, and he drank.
Finally his father Isaac said to Jacob,
“Come closer, son, and kiss me.”
As Jacob went up and kissed him,
Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes.
With that, he blessed him saying,
“Ah, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
that the LORD has blessed!
“May God give to you
of the dew of the heavens
And of the fertility of the earth
abundance of grain and wine.
“Let peoples serve you,
and nations pay you homage;
Be master of your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
and blessed be those who bless you.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (3a) Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD;
Praise, you servants of the LORD
Who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, which we love;
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel for his own possession.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
For I know that the LORD is great;
our LORD is greater than all gods.
All that the LORD wills he does
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and in all the deeps.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia Jn 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord.
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 9:14-17
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
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