Sunday, March 2, 2003
8^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1^st Reading: Hos 2:16-17, 21-22

Thus says the Lord:
So I am going to allure her,
lead her once more into the desert,
where I can speak to her tenderly.

Then I will give back her vineyards,
make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will answer me as in her youth,
as when she came out of the land of Egypt.

You will be my spouse forever,
betrothed in justice and integrity;
we will be united in love and tenderness.
I will espouse you in faithfulness
and you will come to know Yahweh.

2^nd Reading: 2 Cor 3:1-6

Am I again commending myself? Or do I need to present to you letters of recommendation as some do; or should I ask you for those letters? You are the letter. This letter is written in your inner self, yet all can read and understand it. Yes, who could deny that you are Christ’s letter written by us—a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, carved not in slabs of stones, but in hearts of flesh.

This is how we are sure of God, through Christ. As for us we would not dare consider that something comes from us: our ability comes from God. He has even enabled us to be ministers of a new covenant no longer depending on a written text but on the Spirit. The written text kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Gospel: Mk 2:18-22

One day, when the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it that both the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?” Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them and on that day they will fast.

No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the wine would burst the skins and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

Commentary

In the gospel, Jesus used wedding imagery to describe his presence among his disciples as a groom among her guests. His wedding is a time to celebrate, not rest. “As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them and on that day they will fast.” Christian life is a happy one. No doubt it knows trials and difficult times. It often fasts from pleasures, but it never fasts from joy.

Read also: Gospel Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R. • Biblical Commentaries from Diario Biblico

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