Introduction

People in the Old Testament ask: What is the use of fasting? God seems not to be near when they fast. The prophet tells them because real fasting consists in justice and love. Since God has made a covenant with his people, that covenant comprises also justice and love from one person to the other. In the gospel the disciples of John, who fasted, were asking the disciples of Jesus why these didn’t fast. In other parts of the gospel Jesus gives an answer similar to that of the prophet, but now Jesus said that because he has come and is with his disciples, they should rejoice rather than fast.

Opening Prayer

Lord of the Covenant,
we have not to fear your judgment
if like you we become rich in mercy
and full of compassion for our neighbor.
May we not only know that you ask us
but practice with sincere hearts
to share our food with the hungry
and to loosen the bonds of injustice,
that through us your light may shine
and your healing spread far and wide.
Be with us in your goodness.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Is 58:1-9

Cry out aloud for all you are worth;
raise your voice like a trumpet blast;
tell my people of their offenses,
Jacob's family of their sins.

Is it true that they seek me
day after day, longing to know my ways,
as a people that does what is right
and has not forsaken the word of its God?
They want to know the just laws
and not to drift away from their God.

"Why are we fasting," they complain,
"and you do not even see it?
We are doing penance and you never notice it."
Look, on your fast days you push your trade
and you oppress your laborers.

Yes, you fast but end up quarreling,
striking each other with wicked blows.
Fasting as you do
will not make your voice heard on high.

Is that the kind of fast that pleases me,
just a day to humble oneself?
Is fasting merely bowing down one's head,
and making use of sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call that fasting,
a day acceptable to Yahweh?

See the fast that pleases me:
breaking the fetters of injustice
and unfastening the thongs of the yoke,
setting the oppressed free
and breaking every yoke.

Fast by sharing your food with the hungry,
bring to your house the homeless,
clothe the one you see naked
and do not turn away from your own kin.

Then will your light will break forth as the dawn
and your healing come in a flash.
Your righteousness will be your vanguard,
the Glory of Yahweh your rearguard.

Then you will call and Yahweh will answer,
you will cry and he will say, I am here.
If you remove from your midst the yoke,
the clenched fist and the wicked word,

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19

R (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R/ A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."

R/ A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R/ A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel Reading: 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.”