2nd Week in Ordinary Time (Year A) : Monday 15th January 2024

To live is to embrace change. The disciples of John and the Pharisees noticed that Jesus and His disciples were not following the way of life that they were familiar with, and were challenged by it. The people who questioned Jesus were attracted to Jesus (Mark 2:2), they wanted to follow Him, but they found the change too hard to embrace as they wanted to also hang on to the past, to the familiar. Jesus says that change is not marrying the past with the future – “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth(new) on an old cloak(past). If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse (future).”

Jesus invites us into the journey of transition. Jesus(new) brings to fulfilment the Old Testament (past) so that we “might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature(future)”, (Dei Verbum 2.) Change is a transition we do not walk alone but one with God, always!

Change is a friend and a foe, it causes disruption and at the same time, allows us to dream of a new realm of possibility, hope. Do I allow the fear of disruption to stop me from embracing change, or do I allow Hope to empower me through the disruption change brings?

Lord, give me wisdom to distinguish the things I can change and those I can only appreciate today.