“Servants of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God.”  These are weighty titles being conferred upon followers of Christ!

We have been incorporated into the body of Christ.  We receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord through the eucharist.  This changes us in mysterious ways.  God has done a great work in us, elevating those who have been redeemed by his Son to a new and holy relationship with the Holy Trinity.  Paul’s letter to the Corinthians demonstrates that responsibilities attend this change in us.  Let us try to live up to them.

Our psalm for today also emphasizes responsibilities that attend our conversion.  “Trust.”  “Do good.”  “Delight in the Lord.”  “Commit your way to Him.” “Turn from evil and do good.”  These commands present challenges for us, as we do not always meet these high standards.  How can we really bear up under the light that is promised in the first reading – light that reveals what is hidden in darkness?  If we are honest, we know that some darkness still resides in us; the transformation is not complete yet.  We are not all sweetness and light.  We continue to need mercy and transformation for as long as we live on this earth before God’s face, as it will only become complete in heaven.

Today’s gospel presents the parable of the wineskins.  The last verse is both delightful and provocative: “[N]o one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”  Much about our spiritual life and journey perplexes us – and that is why we are guardians of “mysteries of God”.   My personal wine cellar includes some bottles that we have kept for more than a decade.  Sometimes we open these on a special occasion and find that the wine has turned because it had been kept too long – what a disappointment!  But usually the old wine is better – richer, more nuanced, more flavorful, more developed.  As a person who is growing older, I hope this is the case – that I have not turned sour!  But our Lord’s message also suggests that the new wine he gives to us may, just as at the wedding at Cana, be better than the old wine that was first served.  Are we able to hold this new wine, given to us from the Spirit?  Can we possess both the new and the old, keeping ourselves fresh to receive new insights as well as new missions as we grow older and more set in our ways?  I hope we can.

Lord, grant us the humility to listen and see the wonders around us, which you are working all of the time.  Let us open and dilate our hearts and minds to receive what is new, while at the same time treasuring the old which has already been given as a gracious gift to us.  And let us grow in understanding and in truth.  Thanks be to God.