Be renewed
No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth on to an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse (Matthew 9, 16)
John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth on to an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine into fresh skins and both are preserved.’ (Matthew 9,14-17)
Quite rightly, the disciples of Jesus cannot fast while they have the Bridegroom with them. Obviously, moments to fast and offer sufferings will come, for example at the time of the passion and death of Jesus on the cross. While the church waits it suffers patiently for the coming of the risen Jesus and judge. Even so, a new state began with Jesus, which goes beyond the old one and which consisted of external customs. The renovation must be complete. We live in the state of the "new creation".
