Daily reflection _ God's new way

GOD'S NEW WAYS
This old form of religion had to go and needed to be replaced with the worship of God that comes from the heart.
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
Weddings are wonderful occasions because, at their best, they embody joy and delight. They point to the lavish giver and the goodness and love of our heavenly Father. The prophets of old used the examples of grooms and brides as they talked about the relationship between God and His People. "...as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you" (Is 62:5b), Isaiah says, as he looks to the day when God would renew the Covenant with His People. The people who heard Jesus Christ speak of the presence of the bridegroom would have remembered Isaiah and the other prophets. They would have understood Who Jesus was. He is the promised Bridegroom, the One Who will renew God's Covenant with His People.
In today's Gospel of Mark, Jesus spoke out against a form of fasting that had become nothing more than an external act devoid of any real devotion to God. Jesus insisted that this old form of religion had to go and needed to be replaced with the worship of God that comes from the heart. This is confirmed later in the Gospel when Jesus said, "No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins... Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins" 
In the Gospel Acclamation we pray, "The Word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart" (Heb 4:12). God's new ways are as incompatible with the old as the new cloth is to the old. Past failures and old habits are replaced with new life in Jesus Christ Who restores us!
"Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them"?