Schegge di vangelo a cura di don Stefano Bimbi
Sant’Espedito a cura di Ermes Dovico

GOSPEL PEARLS

 Sincere gratefulness 

Why is it your disciples do not fast? (Mark 2, 18)

Schegge di vangelo 17_01_2022

One day when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of fasting while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they could not think of fasting. But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; if he does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh skins. (Mark 2, 18-22)

Some Pharisees, prejudiced against Jesus, attack Him by asking why His disciples do not fast. Jesus replies that fasting is important, and will be done by his disciples at the right time, but that it is more important to celebrate when the heavenly Spouse Jesus Himself, is present. If we are sincerely grateful to God for all the things He gives us, we won’t spend time thinking about what we lack.