September 3, 2004 - Friday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, Pope, Church doctor

CREATED ANEW IN CHRIST

Readings:
1 Cor 4:1-5; Ps 37:3 –4, 5–6, 27–28, 39 – 40; Lk 5:33-39

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Introduction

Gregory the Great (540-604) was civil prefect (governor) of Rome; he became a Benedictine monk, later papal envoy to Constantinople. Elected Pope, he reluctantly accepted, as he preferred the monastic life. He was a very capable administrator, looking upon his task as service. His incumbency during difficult times was marked by his efforts to care for the socially deprived, to reconcile factions within the Church, to create cordial relations with the Church in Spain and France and to evangelize England. He reformed the Roman liturgy, though his relation to "Gregorian chant" is mere fantasy, for the "old Roman" music he promoted disappeared in the 14th century. Let us honor him today especially as a reformer of the Church and "servant of the servants" as he called himself.

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
Saint Gregory followed Jesus, your Son,
in his commitment to you
and his service to the people entrusted to him.
May the Spirit of Jesus be alive in us
and dispose us to become, like your Son,
powerless and vulnerable,
so that we can serve one another,
especially the weakest of our brothers and sisters.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction:
       We will be trustworthy stewards of God's mysteries if we live according to the gospel and serve God and people, rather than seek security in outward observances and lip service.

First Reading: 1 Cor 4:1– 5

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy. It does not concern me in the
least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not
even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of anything
against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who
judges me is the Lord. Therefore, do not make any judgment
before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will
bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest
the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise
from God.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 37:3 –4, 5–6, 27–28, 39 – 40

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
Criminals are destroyed
and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Gospel Introduction:
       We are created anew in Christ, the Lord and the new beginning of all. With Christ, we have to renounce all compromises with the old in us and live in the new spirit of Christ. How well have we accepted the renewal that Vatican II asks of us?

Gospel Reading: Lk 5:33-39

Some people asked Jesus, "The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?" Then Jesus said to them, "You can't make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days."

Jesus also told them this parable, "No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well. But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says: The old is good."

Commentary

"NEW wine must be put into fresh skins." In the Lord's time wine was not kept in bottles but in skins. When the new wine was placed in a skin, it continued to ferment, giving off carbon dioxide. An old skin had not the elasticity of a new one, and so it would burst and the wine was lost. This says to us: don't let your mind become like an old wine-skin. Our faith makes unconditional demands on us throughout our lives. It requires us to make immense leaps of sympathy and forgiveness; it asks us to live for God, not for earthly power and wealth; it asks us to put aside self-will and to live for others; it asks us to put to death our worldly pride and vanity, and to imitate the self-emptying (kenosis), the poverty of Christ; it asks us to lay down our very lives for our brothers and sisters; most challenging of all, it asks us to love our enemies. This was a new way to live, it was the new wine, requiring a new mind, new structures. The world, even at that time, was weary of the old ways of tyranny. It has even more reason to be tired of them now. That the Gospel still appears new and revolutionary is evidence that we haven't moved very far. The Gospel will always be News to us.

General Intercessions

- For the Church, that the People of God and its leaders may heed the promptings of the creative Spirit to speak to the people of today the ever-new language of the gospel, we pray:

- For artists, poets and inventors, that they may reveal to us the splendor of creation and the newness of life in Christ, we pray:

- For this community, that we may not be afraid of authentic change and draw from Christ the courage to start the reform of the Church and the world with the renewal of ourselves, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God of all people,
as Jesus serves us himself at table
in the signs of bread and wine,
let him fill us with that love,
which alone can understand
that to be great is to serve others
and to use up our lives
to give people a chance to live and be free.
May we seek no other reward
than to share the destiny of Jesus,
our Lord and Savior for ever.

Prayer after Communion

Loving God,
your Son Jesus has been with us
in this eucharistic celebration
as the servant of us all.
Let him dispose our hearts
and fill it with the courage
to understand and accept others,
to accompany them on the road of life
to suffer their pains
and to rejoice with their joys,
that we may serve them with Jesus,
our Savior and Lord for ever.

Blessing

We must ask ourselves from time to time how faithful we are to the gospel. It is easy to become fossilized. The gospel wants us to stay young and ever new. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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