The image of the new wine and the new cloak help us understand the difference between grace and the law. It is tempting to to oppose the two and say that the goal of grace and the goal of the law are two completely different things. Jesus speaks to this temptation when He says that not one iota of the law will pass away until all things are fulfilled. The more insidious temptation however is to attempt to return to the law after beginning the life of grace. Baptism is the new garment we’ve been given – we shouldn’t use baptism as a patch that simply covers the hole in the cloak of the old man and the old law. Very concretely this means that we will rip and shred our lives apart at the core of our soul if we try to use the grace of Christ to give some appearance of perfection to others, to ourselves, or to God. Grace is not given to us so that we can simply do a better job of obeying the ten commandments – Grace is not a patch for our moral life. The grace of Christ is given to us so that we become intimately involved with the persons of the Trinity. Whoever insists that the major goal of Christianity and criteria to judge Christian life has to do with righteousness and moral purity is nothing more than a modern pharisee. They rip and shred themselves and others to pieces because Jesus becomes simply an enforcer of the Old Law instead of the Savior and giver of a New Law.
Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
In the minds of the Church Fathers, the Church was not at all an earthly kingdom. The Church, as they explain, is a hospital. St. Maximus of Turin sees the Church as a boat wherein we find an abundance of fish pulled out of the waters of the world and half-dead. By remaining in the boat, the fish are brought – not to the market – but to the shores of eternal life. The fish are certainly taken out of the comforts of the waters where they swam, but they are given lungs to begin breathing the pure air of the Spirit.
Saturday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time
CHRYSOSTOM:
The man who is wise according to the standards of this world is really very foolish, because he will not cast away his corrupt teaching. A little learning is a dangerous thing, because it makes those who have it unwilling to learn more. The unlearned are more open to conviction, because they are not so foolish as to think that they are wise.
AMBROSIASTER:
The two most “foolish things of the world” are in particular the virgin birth of Christ and his resurrection from the dead. The wise are confounded because they see that what a few of them deny, the many profess to be true. There is no doubt that the opinions of the many faithful take precedence over those of a small number. Likewise, those who are mighty in this world can easily see the so-called weak things of Christ overturning demons and performing miracles. To the world the injuries and sufferings of the Savior are weak things, because the world does not understand that they have become the source of power through Christ who submitted to suffering in order to overcome death.