September 4, 2026
Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Luke 5:33–39

Today is Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke presents us with a dialogue between the scribes and Pharisees and Jesus. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.

First, Saint Luke tells us that the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and pray often, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but Yours eat and drink.” (Luke 5:33) Saint Luke describes it this way because he invites us to pay attention to our fasting. For at times we, too, are like the disciples of John, the scribes, and the Pharisees — so fond of external fasting yet making light of the fast of the heart. In truth, afflicting the body does not conform to the teaching of God, for the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. For Christians, external austerity does not matter; what matters is the fast of the heart — that is, emptying one’s own heart so as to receive the light of the Holy Spirit and rediscover the Word of God within our hearts.

Next, Jesus speaks of the bridegroom and the guests (cf. Luke 5:34–35), intending to remind us that He is always present in His Church. His guests — those brothers and sisters who gladly welcome Jesus, live according to His holy will, receive the sacraments frequently, and go to confession often — are always with Jesus; they continually converse with Him through prayer. Therefore, for these brothers and sisters, there is no need to fast, for their hearts are in tune with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But for those brothers who reject Jesus and refuse to live according to God’s holy will, because they are unwilling to welcome Him, the devil seizes the opportunity to enter and snatch away the seed that Jesus has sown in our hearts. If they wish to welcome Jesus back, they have need of fasting and prayer, imploring God’s mercy for the sins of negligence they have committed.

Finally, Jesus tells a parable. Through the teaching of patching a cloak and putting new wine into fresh wineskins (cf. Luke 5:36–39), He tells us: the cloak serves to cover our body and soul. Before we have received the Baptism of Christ, our soul is full of the stains of sin. Sin makes one uneasy; and when we feel that unease, out of instinct we, too, act as our first parents did (cf. Genesis 2:7), sewing patches onto our garments, thinking that in this way we can keep our transgressions from being exposed. The more we do so, the more evident our flaws become. We are like wineskins, vessels chosen by God. God pours all kinds of graces into our hearts, inviting us to live according to His holy will and to live out the spirit of children of God. Yet among us there are many brothers and sisters who do not follow Saviour’s instructions, nor live according to His teaching. Outwardly they appear to be perfect Christians, but inwardly they are not. Therefore, Jesus wishes to admonish us through this parable: we must follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and, according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, be thoroughly transformed; only then can we put on Christ, only then can Jesus Christ dwell within us, and only then can we truly become Christians in the full sense of the name.

God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica