There is a movie that I enjoy tremendously called the Forbidden Kingdom. In it, the young hero has traveled back in time to try to save the world. He doesn’t know Kung Fu, but he knows all about it from movies and games. While he is going through an entire litany of moves and skills that he believes the master should teach him, the cup Jacki Chan is filling is overflowing. The young man says, “stop, my cups full.”
Ah, says the master, “how can you fill your cup if already full, how can you learn kungfu if you already know so much.” “empty your cup.”
That is part of what the Gospel is trying to teach us today. Old wineskins have been stretched to their limits and grown brittle with time. They harden and don’t change well. Young wineskins are supple and elastic. They grow as the wine ferments inside, moving, and giving room to the growth inside them.
We find ourselves in an exciting though difficult time as a Church right now. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to learn to adapt and modify how we do things. Tradition is essential, but lower case t tradition has to change to fit the time and place the Gospel lives. When we always dwell in the past, without looking to the future, and living in the present; then, we are like the boy.
It’s as if Jesus is saying to us today, “how can you follow me if your cup is already full. Empty your cup.” But Master, what should I empty from my cup? “Yourself.” How can we become new wineskins? I am older and not fond of change. Jesus promises us that He will remove our stony hearts and give us ones made of flesh. Let’s empty ourselves like a libation and allow Him to refill our cup with Himself.
A reflection on the readings for the daily Mass for Friday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time: September 04, 2020