MONTHLY DEVOTIONAL FOR 5 SEPTEMBER
September 5, 2025
FEAST OF SAINT ELEUTHERIUS THE ABBOT – 6th SEPTEMBER
September 6, 2025
TODAY’S GOSPEL READING
5 SEPTEMBER, 2025
Luke 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD!
REFLECTION
In this passage, Jesus explains the difference between the old and the new. He uses the images of a wedding feast, new cloth on old garments, and new wine in old wineskins to show that His coming brings a new covenant that cannot be contained by old traditions and rigid forms. Just as no one fasts while the bridegroom is with them, His presence calls for joy and renewal. The message reminds us that following Christ requires openness to transformation, leaving behind outdated ways of thinking, and allowing His Spirit to create something new within us.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You are the Bridegroom who has come to bring us joy and fullness of life. Teach us to embrace the newness of Your covenant, leaving behind what binds us to old habits and lifeless traditions. Help us to be like new wineskins—flexible and open to Your Spirit—so that we may carry Your life and love within us. May we rejoice in Your presence, walk in Your renewal, and live in the freedom of Your grace. Amen
