8 July 2017
Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s reading notes the importance of innovation and adopting to new things. New wine skins for new wine, or the old will be broken by the new. However, there is no disparaging the importance of old wine because even the amateur in the field of wine consumption knows the advantage of a mature vintage. The Gospel today comes from Matthew who notes wisely in another part of his gospel that it is a wise housekeeper who takes both old and new from his storeroom. One of our greatest challenges in life is establishing the balance between the necessity of innovation and the prudence and experience of past practices. As Ignatius states in his First Principle and Foundation, an action or a choice is good or bad only insofar as it takes us away or towards God, not whether it is traditional or innovative.