“‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.’” (Luke 5:33).
It is so important for things to be matched properly.
Think of pretty much anything that you are doing, and you will see the importance of matching things.
For example, if I am preparing a meal, I would want to match the main meal with the side dishes and even with the drinks to ensure that the whole meal is enjoyable. Perhaps – even more importantly – I would want to match the food in terms of the age of the food so that the new food prepared will not be something that goes off… Think also of clothing. The clothes that we wear should sort of match. This means that I would not wear winter clothes with summer clothes – I would wear the matching clothes for the season.
There is even matching in relationships. Matching people marry (either they match because they are so similar, or they match because they are so different), but either way, they match. People also match in terms of workplaces – like-people match and work together.
And this matching reminds me of the parable that Christ told about the matching fabric and the matching wine and wineskins…
“Jesus told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins’.” (Luke 5:33-39).
And this parable is really just about reminding. It is important that I actually live my life in a manner that matches my beliefs. The fact that I have a strong faith in my Beloved and in the teachings of the Catholic Church, means that I should be able to understand that it is not enough to just know that we have done well, but even more than that, I am responsible for showing that matching, because without that show of matching then everything that I do to the intention that my Beloved set out and communicates to me through the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church!
And when I stop to consider this it seems such a miracle to me, that Christ – God the Son – came to Earth, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was able to ensure that this message was communicated to me, from twenty centuries ago…
And perhaps, that in itself is the greatest miracle of all. Because my Beloved focuses on matching, when all things need to align, and He reminds me to get organised and to get the thoughts in my head to match the feelings in my heart to match the teachings of the Church. And I guess, today, I consider that the greatest miracle of all…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Comments