Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090624.cfm

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And Jesus also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Luke 5:36

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Jesus wants his disciples to understand that his Gospel invitation is to an entirely new way of thinking. The word Jesus preaches is one of Mercy not Law. To understand that dynamic change, his disciples must let go of the measurements of the Old Law. They are not sufficient to convey the infinite mercy and love of God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace of a clearer understanding – one that can release the need for measurements and judgements. May the overflowing love of God move our hearts to see the world with Mercy.

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Poetry: But Not With Wine – Jessica Powers

O God of too much giving, 
whence is this inebriation that possesses me, 
that the staid road now wanders all amiss, 
and that the wind walks much too giddily, 
clutching a bush for balance, or a tree? 
How then can dignity and pride endure 
with such inordinate mirth upon the land, 
when steps and speech are somewhat insecure 
and the light heart is wholly out of hand? 

If there be indecorum in my songs, 
fasten the blame where rightly it belongs: 
on Him who offered me too many cups 
of His most potent goodness—not on me, 
a peasant who, because a King was host, 
drank out of courtesy.

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Music: Wineskins – Cloverton

[Verse 1]
There is trouble up ahead
The water’s getting rough
And smoke is in the wind
There’s a fear that comes with the unknown
But clinging to the past
Will keep you where you don’t belong

[Chorus]
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?

[Verse 2]
Don’t try to cover up the holes
With patches that are fragile
And stitches that won’t hold
These patterns hold us in a line
We need an alteration
The old self must be left behind

[Chorus]
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?