New Wine, New Wineskins, St. Agnes, Purity, Chastity

WEEK 02 01
New Wine, Fresh Wineskins
Memorial: St. Agnes of Rome
(Heb 5:1-10; Ps 110; Mk 2:18-22)
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Would you like to experience the eternal salvation mentioned in the first reading? According to the author of Hebrews, all we need do for that to happen is to obey Jesus.

The liturgists chose the readings well for today, as there is a double connection between the first reading and the gospel. In the gospel, Jesus speaks of new wine, whereas the author of Hebrews speaks of eternal salvation. In essence, what both want for us is the new wine of eternal salvation. In the gospel, Jesus mentions the need for fresh wineskins capable of holding that new wine, whereas the author of Hebrews mentions the need to obey Jesus Christ. Putting that all together, we are to be new wine skins of obedience to Jesus destined to be filled with the new wine of eternal salvation.

But what is this new wine of eternal salvation, meant to be the goal of our lives according to both Hebrews and Mark’s gospel? I think the one who put it most succinctly is St. Paul in one line of his letter to the Romans: “The kingdom of God is not about eating or drinking, but the peace, joy and justice of the Holy Spirit” (14:17). So, for St. Paul, that new wine of eternal salvation is actually living within and experiencing the kingdom of God through peace, joy and justice in the Holy Spirit.

Peace is not a passing emotion but a gift of the Holy Spirit we can claim as followers of Jesus. Joy is also not just a fleeting feeling, but a gift of the Holy Spirit we can claim as followers of Jesus, the only one who can fill us with those gifts.

And I believe justice is: a right relationship with God (having received God’s forgiveness and healing so that we are reconciled with God); a right relationship with everyone else in our lives (we have forgiven all who have hurt us and apologized to anyone we may have hurt); a right relationship with ourselves (we have accepted ourselves as we are, have forgiven ourselves our past mistakes, and have a strong sense of self-worth and self-esteem) and finally, a right relationship with all of God’s creation (we are doing all we can to care for the ecology and mother earth). All of this results in us enjoying the new wine of eternal salvation.

Jesus in the gospel warns us we have to be new wineskins, however, to be able to hold and contain that powerful new wine of eternal salvation. The author of Hebrews comes to our rescue, suggesting obeying Jesus, doing his will, is the best way to be those new wineskins. But what does it mean – to obey Jesus? The simplest answer would be to do his will (like the WWJD bracelet some wear, standing for “What would Jesus do?”). But what would Jesus have us do so that we can be new wineskins of obedience to him?

May I suggest three clear avenues? Live the Beatitudes, keep the Commandments, and follow Jesus into the Paschal Mystery.

The Beatitudes are “eight ways of being” that summarize the teaching of Jesus and serve as a Magna Carta for living in the kingdom of God. In fact, two of them, the first and the last (“poor in spirit” and “persecuted”) assure those who are living them that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. All of them, really, describe someone who is already experiencing in this life, the new wine of eternal salvation.

The second avenue into this new wine of eternal salvation is to keep the commandments Jesus taught us. For the sake of expediency and simplicity, I like to summarize them as follows: Love God with our whole being through prayer, praise and worship; love others by caring for them and sharing life with them; love ourselves by forgiving and accepting ourselves as we are; love others as Jesus has loved us, by being willing to make selfless sacrifices for their sake; and finally, love our enemies by forgiving them from the heart. Anyone truly keeping these commandments is certainly a new wineskin of obedience to Jesus leading them to experience the new wine of eternal salvation.

The letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus as the great high priest who was made perfect through suffering, and thus became the source of eternal salvation. The third avenue of being a new wineskin is to take up our cross as Jesus invites us to do, and follow him into the Paschal Mystery of radical discipleship and redemptive suffering. Radical discipleship is to be able to accept suffering and inconvenience in our lives without bitterness or resentment. When we do this, we are just like Jesus on the cross (“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do”), and our suffering becomes redemptive and full of purpose, as it is connected with that of Jesus and helps build up the kingdom of God here on earth. This witness is needed more than ever today, as our society has lost all and any sense of purpose and meaning in suffering, seeing it as meaningless and to be avoided at all cost – leading especially to the push for euthanasia of the elderly, and addiction of all kinds as people strive to avoid the legitimate suffering they do not understand.

We are given someone to emulate today, who at a very young age, grasped this mystery of radical discipleship and redemptive suffering. The feast of St. Agnes has been celebrated on this day since the 4th century. Little is known about her. She was likely born in the early years of the 4th century, and was martyred at the age of 12 during a Roman persecution. She is a symbol of virginal innocence and has been pictured with a lamb as a symbol of this innocence since the Middle Ages. She can also teach us a lot about the values of purity and chastity, so overshadowed by unbridled lust and sexuality in our present-day society.

One of the 6th century legends is that Agnes was a beautiful girl with many rivals for marriage. When she rejected the proposals, she was denounced to the governor as a Christian and sent to a house of prostitution. Those who came to visit her were struck with awe. One man apparently lost his sight while looking at her, but later regained it through her prayers. She was eventually brought before a judge, condemned and executed. She stands as a patron saint for many people, including girls, gardeners and engaged couples.

Here is what the Office of Readings writes about her: “A new kind of martyrdom! Too young to be punished, yet old enough for a martyr’s crown; unfitted for the contest, yet effortless in victory, she shows herself a master in valour despite the handicap of youth. As a bride she would not be hastening to join a husband with the same joy she shows as a virgin on her way to punishment, crowned not with flowers but with holiness of life, adorned not with braided hair but with Christ himself. What menaces there were from the executioner, to frighten her; what promises made, to win her over; what influential people desired her in marriage! She answered: ‘To hope that any other will please me does wrong to my Spouse. I will be his who first chose me for himself. Executioner, why do you delay? If eyes that I do not want can desire this body, then let it perish.’ She stood still, she prayed, she offered her neck.” Truly, she was that new wineskin of obedience to Christ and now fully enjoys the new wine of eternal salvation.

The Eucharist is a participation in this new wine, a taste of eternal life and salvation, that both prepares us for it, and transforms us into the new wine skins capable of holding it.

So, may our celebration strengthen our faith to be like that of St. Agnes, and transform us into new wineskins of obedience to Christ enjoying the new wine of eternal salvation.