Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Created Anew In Christ
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. 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.
Gospel. 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?
Opening Prayer
Faithful God of tenderness and mercy,
you want us to be your people
on the march with Jesus your Son
toward a new future of justice and love.
Do not allow us to suffocate in being contented
with old habits and sluggish ways.
Help us to accept the pain
of leaving the familiar behind us
and open us to the challenge of the gospel
to become more like your Son
who guides our faltering steps,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Ministers of Christ
Let everyone then see us as the servants of Christ and stewards of God’s secret plans.
As stewards, we will be accountable for being faithful.
I don’t mind if you or any human court judge me. I don’t even judge myself;
my conscience doesn’t accuse me of anything. However, that isn’t enough for me to be justified before God— it’s the Lord who judges me.
Therefore, don’t judge before the right time, until the Lord comes. He will reveal what is hidden in darkness and expose the secret thoughts of the heart. Then everyone will receive praise from God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40
R. (39a) 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.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The scribes and Pharisees said to 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:
But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.”
Jesus also shared a parable:
Still, no one who has tasted old wine is eager to try new wine, because they say, ‘The old is good.’”
Prayers of the Faithful
– 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 splendour 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
Lord our God,
in these signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus Christ comes among us
to make with us a new beginning.
Create us anew in him.
Reconcile us with you and each other
and make us builders with him
of a new world
in which he is our Lord forever.
Prayer after Communion
God of hope,
you have given us Jesus your Son
as our companion on the road
for understanding the old, familiar things
with new and young hearts.
Let him prod us on
when we try to compromise
by merely patching up the old here and there.
Let your Spirit blow on us
your vigorous breath of life
to renew us and our world
with your mercy and justice.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We must ask ourselves from time to time how faithful we are to the gospel. It is easy to become fossilised. The gospel wants us to stay young and ever new. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Luke 5:33-39
Becoming vessels of Christ’s joy
The Gospel invites us to meet Jesus, who brings the joy of God’s kingdom. His presence turns faith from anxious rule-keeping into a wedding feast. Fasting has its place, yet it must spring from love: we fast because we long for the Bridegroom, and not because suffering makes us impressive.
Fr Armellini helps us see that the Gospel is not a patch for preserving a life. Jesus does not ask us merely to improve our habits or decorate old structures. He offers new wine: a vision of God, humanity, worship, and community. Receiving it requires a gentle heart, capable of seeing beyond prejudices, fears, and inherited certainties.
God’s grace cannot remain contained inside routines that protect our ego. Conversion is a revolution of the heart: resentment gives way to forgiveness, a tendency to control gives way to surrender, isolation gives way to communion, and self-protection gives way to generous love.
Yet Jesus’ final observation is compassionate: “The old is good,” we say. Familiar ways comfort us, even when they imprison us. Christ does not shame our hesitation; he invites us to taste the new.
Today, the Lord asks: What in me has become rigid? Which custom, wound, or certainty prevents grace from expanding? May the Spirit soften our hearts into new wineskins, ready to hold Christ’s life. Then our prayer, sacrifice, and service will no longer be lifeless duties, but signs that the Bridegroom is near.