Gospel of Mark, chapter 2:22

In today’s gospel passage, the Lord is talking about the need for a change of attitude; a change of heart, in order to respond to His good news. The good news is compared to new wine which must be poured into fresh wineskins. The fresh wineskins refer to our attitudes which must be renewed or reformed in order to receive the good news.

The longer one lives, the more obvious it seems that attitude is more important than facts. An attitude touches the core of a human being; it is all-embracing, impacting on every aspect of person’s life for good or for bad. A bad attitude can ruin everything; a good attitude is like a ray of sunshine: it can uplift, inspire and transform the world around us. That is why Jesus gave us eight blessed attitudes or beatitudes, so that we can be renewed in spirit. But, in order to possess these new attitudes you need to repent of the old ones.

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people say or do. It is more important than appearances, than talent, than a job. It will make or break a family, a church, a business. The wonderful thing is that we have a choice concerning the attitudes we will embrace each day. We cannot change the past, we cannot alter the facts of life, we can only change the way we handle things. What happens to you is not nearly as important as how you handle it.

If you are jealous of someone, your bad attitude will cause you to harm that person who is the object of your jealousy. Jesus reminds of this when He also states that “all evil acts come from the deep recesses of the human soul;” from attitudes of hatred, pride, greed, and so forth. To live a Christian life; to follow Christ; is to be prepared to repent of those bad attitudes from within and to replace them with the blessed attitudes of the gospel. This is true conversion.

You cannot put new wine into old wines-skins, Jesus tells us, for the new wine will burst the old wines-skins. In the same way, you cannot follow Jesus if you cling to, rather than repent of bad attitudes. You must rid yourself of bad attitudes first in order to accept the good news of the Gospel.

A healthy Christian attitude is the best thing you have going for you. So, make it your special project to give up those bad attitudes that prevent you from possessing the kingdom of God from within.

Fr. Hugh Duffy