Friday, February
15, 2002
Friday after Ash Wednesday
1st Reading:
Is 58:1-9
Gospel:
Mt 9:14-15
The disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, "How is it
that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?"
Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom
will be taken away from them, then they will fast."
Commentary
Voluntary fasting, except for health purposes, seems to have lost meaning
today. It's a form of prayer, which says: "Life is God's gift. The
food sustaining my life is God's gift too. But I cannot live on food alone.
I need the gifts, but I long even more for the Giver." There are
times we experience that God is with us, as the disciples did when they
were with Jesus. So why fast when the "more" we long for is
there?
Isaiah expands the theology of fasting. Do you long for God? Then face
what separates us most from God: unjust relationships. Do you long for
the Giver of all good? Restore right relationships, for where love is,
God is. "Fast by sharing your food with the hungry, bringing to your
house the homeless...then you will call and God will answer, you will
cry and God will say, 'I'm here.'"