18 January 2021
Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s reading, Jesus identifies the necessity of establishing a means for holding and expressing new ideas. He does so by using images that would be familiar to his listeners, the experience of unshrunk cloth and new wine. However, it is important to note that Jesus does not tell his listeners to trash the old wineskins (and the good wine it contains) as well as old cloth, which is still quite useful. This passage reflects another verse in the same gospel which recalls how a wise homeowner brings from his treasure what is old and new (Chapter 13:52). What we see in Matthew was a caution of what perhaps occurs throughout the history of humanity: the persistent rejection of any old idea. In brief, reject any idea that I did not create. There is real vanity in such a position like this one that has its first expression in the great idea acted on by Adam and Eve.