Tuesday's Reflection: New Wine in New Wineskins

We are grateful to Sister Maria Angeline Weiss, SCC, for sharing this pre-Chapter reflection:

New wine. Fresh wineskins. Clean. Fresh. Unused. Original.

When I think of new wineskins, I think of how new things can be so attractive -- new shoes, new sweater, new anything.  What is it about getting something new that is so exciting?  Just think of Christmas morning as a child, with all those presents wrapped in shiny, glittering paper!  But eventually these new things pass away, fade, break, get dirty or lose their attraction.

This desire within us for newness might sometimes manifest itself in an attraction or attachment to material things.  However, the disappointment we feel at the quick passing of material things may just be the Holy Spirit nudging and reminding us that we were made for something eternally new, something that never passes away -- Heaven, his eternal love, the new wine that he continually desires to pour forth into the wineskins of our hearts.  More than passing excitement, it is a reason to hope that He is not finished with us: "Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, truly you shall know them" (Isaiah 43:19).

Jesus, we trust in you.  Do new things in us.  Fill us with the hope that you are not finished with us.  Make our hearts fresh that we may receive the new and sweet wine of your perfect love.  "Behold, I make all things new. . . . Write, for these words are most faithful and true" (Revelation 21:5).

- Sister Maria Angeline ministers at NativityMiguel School (Scranton, Pennsylvania).
___________________________

The Sisters of Christian Charity of the North American Eastern Province will hold our Provincial Chapter from February 14-18, 2019.  Please join us in praying the prayer for our Provincial Chapter.

___________________________
Today, we also want to say, "Happy new year" to our Sisters and friends who celebrate Tết (Vietnamese), Seollal (Korean), Chinese New Year, and others who observe the Lunar New Year.  Thanks to Sister Joseph Spring, SCC, for sharing this photo of the Sister-students at Assumption College for Sisters as they prepare for the new year.  To them we say, "Chúc mừng năm mới!"