Saint Paul tells us very clearly what matters in the Christian life:
“It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”
A steward does not own what he has been given. He receives something from another and is responsible for guarding it well.
That is how Saint Paul understands his own ministry. He is a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.
The faith does not belong to him.
The Gospel does not belong to him.
The grace of the Sacraments does not come from him.
His duty is to be faithful to what Christ has entrusted to him.
That is why Paul is not greatly concerned with human judgement. People may praise him or criticise him. They may misunderstand him. He may even misunderstand himself.
But finally, “It is the Lord who judges me.”
That does not mean our actions do not matter. It means that the judgement which matters most is God’s, because God sees not only what we do, but why we do it.
The Gospel takes us deeper.
People complain because the disciples of Jesus do not fast in the same way as others.
Our Lord answers by speaking of Himself as the Bridegroom.
Something new has happened.
Christ has come.
And therefore the whole of religious life must now be centred upon Him.
That is the meaning of the new wine.
Christ does not simply add something extra to an otherwise unchanged life.
His grace changes us from within.
The old wineskin cannot simply contain the new wine unchanged.
There must be conversion.
Saint Cuthbert understood both of these truths.
He sought God in prayer, solitude and penance, but when the Church called him to serve others, he obeyed.
He did not make holiness mean doing whatever suited his own temperament.
He allowed God to shape his life.
That is the point for us.
We can become too concerned with how we appear to others, whether we are approved, whether our preferences are satisfied.
But the Christian question is simpler:
Am I faithful to what God has entrusted to me?
And am I allowing His grace to change me?
The steward must be faithful.
The wineskin must be made ready.
The heart must be converted.
Because in the end, Saint Paul reminds us, the Lord will bring to light what is hidden.
And then it will be clear whether we merely looked religious, or whether Christ had truly changed us.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 