Friday after Ash
Wednesday
February 12, 2016 8:30am
Today’s readings are a bit
challenging.
They both deal with fasting – one
of Lenten practices – but in a way that really makes us think.
God, through the prophet Isaiah,
says:
What matters is that you care for
those who are in need.
God wants us to fast, not so much
from food, but from indifference, prejudice, a sense of superiority, and an
unwillingness to share.
He wants us to care for those in
need, no matter who they are or whatever the issue might be.
Jesus in today’s gospel
acknowledges that we will fast when he, the bridegroom is no longer with us,
but he doesn’t really pump it up as a priority.
Why?
Maybe because he knows that it is
not an end in itself and that we might slide into thinking that it is an end in
itself and judge ourselves as good just because we do it.
So, I see these as somewhat
challenging readings.
I do believe that fasting plays a
good part in our spiritual life.
But it plays this part if our
fasting from some amount or some kind of food leads us to go within and to
really look at and know ourselves.
Fasting plays a part if it leads
us to identify what attitudes and conversations and actions we need to fast
from, and what attitudes and conversations and actions we need to embrace.
If we do that, we will be moved,
as Isaiah says, to care for those in need, no matter who or where they are.
In our Catholic tradition, we
call this charity and social justice.
That’s the purpose of fasting
according to today’s readings.
Perhaps that is much more
challenging than the fasting itself.
