Today's readings remind us that Christian life, like all life, has its joys and its sorrows. The incarnation is a wedding feast; it is the union of Christ with the human family, and especially with His Church, the body of believers. Since this union is a reality there should always be a certain air of festal joy about, an atmosphere of celebration. There is a newness present; Christ's coming has made a difference. Things religious have not been the same since He came to bring the new wine suited for a new age.

But this joy and festive spirit must know how to cope with suffering, and to see how it fits this pattern of festal celebration. Suffering is also a reality. The answer to the dilemma is to be found in Christ Himself. It was as high priest, through His suffering and death, that Christ ushered in the new age, an age that has not come in its completion once and for all. It is constantly in the process of coming. And as was the case with Christ Himself, the new life came through a state of dying, mortification, so to for the individual believer, the smaller communities and the Church itself. By God's grace we shed sins and weaknesses, to be transformed by the power of the Spirit into men and women of new covenant, with new hearts and new spirits.