The New American Bible translation for today's Gospel (Mk 2: 18-22), which we American Catholics use, has this interesting introduction to the topic of fasting. It says: "The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast." Many translations just say that they "were fasting." The King James Version says they "used to fast." But this idea of being "accustomed" to fasting is a bit different, at least in one sense of the word "accustomed." Whe we are "accustomed" to something, we're familiar with it. We have done it before and it has become somewhat second nature. It comes naturally. We're used to it. We can almost take it for granted or not notice it. We say that we're "accustomed" to our nice, warm home and ample supply of food. Or we're "accustomed" to staying in a nice hotel, like it is no big deal. I point that out because I think part of what Jesus is trying to do in this passage is shake things up, get people past their being "accustomed." Jesus does that a lot. He wants us to think about what we're doing and why, and not just keep doing the same things. He wants us to think about why we honor the Sabbath, not just be tied to a set of rules. He wants us to consider what it means to love your neighbor as something other than a tribal matter. He wants fasting to be something done for a reason, not just because we always do it and are "accustomed" to it. That's why He makes the point of saying that it wasn't appropriate to fast when the "bridegroom" is around (ie, when Jesus is still with them), regardless of what would be the typical way of doing things. Jesus wants to shake things up, to get us thinking, to imagine why we're doing things and how we might do things better. He wants us to use the right wineskins, and to repair an old cloak the right way, thinking about what will happen and how to avoid problems. Where do we do things in a certain way just because we are "accustomed" to what we're doing? Where might we change? I once had a priest friend say that the last words of the Church are: "we never did it that way before." Or, as St. John Henry Newman put it, "to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often."