A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark 2:18-22
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.”
I have to disarm
I have fought this war. For many years.
It was terrible. But now I am disarmed.
I fear nothing,
because “love chases out fear”
I am disarmed from the will to win,
And justifying myself at the expense of others
I am no longer on guard,
jealously holding on to my wealth.
I welcome and share. I am not especially attached to my ideas or projects.
If others have better things to propose,
I accept them willingly…
Whatever is good, true, real, wherever it is,
It is always better for me.
So I am no longer afraid.
When you have nothing
You are not afraid any more
“Who can separate us from the love of Christ?”…
If we disarm, I we divest ourselves of everything,
If we open ourselves to the God-man
Who renews all things,
Then he will wipe out our wicked past
And restore to us a new era where everything is possible.
Ecumenical Patriarch Ahenagoras I
Atenagora Chiesa ortodossa e futuro ecumenico
Morcelliana, Brescia 1995, pp. 209-211
(published by the Priestly Branch of the Focolare Movement)
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 2:1-12
1 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. 3 When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Caper’na-um, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples; and there they stayed for a few days.
(The Philippino people is celebrating the Feast of Sto Nino.)
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke 2:41-52
41 Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 42 and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. 43 After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, 47 and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke 2:41-52
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