Readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday after Ash Wednesday | USCCB
As we continue on our journey during these 40 days of
Lent, we hear in our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah about how to live
out our days in service to God and to our neighbor.
Isaiah talks about those people whose fast end in
quarreling and fighting and how wrong it is in the eyes of God. A fast is
supposed to be a way for us to grow deeper and closer to God in service to him
and to others. Isaiah goes on to say that fasting and prayer is meant to be an
offering to God, making our sacrifice pleasing to Him. Instead, many people,
even with their fasting, were becoming more self-centered and neglecting their
duties towards God.
Isaiah clarifies this by reminding us that our fasting
and penance is meant to lead us to being concerned about those people around us
that are neglected: the homeless, the hungry, those in prison and the needy. It
is our help of those less fortunate than ourselves that we in turn help the
Lord. This is truly pleasing to God when we sacrifice ourselves in helping
others. It is through these corporal works of mercy that we please God.
There are many ways we can do these corporal works of
mercy. It can be either volunteering in a soup kitchen or breadline, or simply
by donating to places that serve those people in need. So, whether we serve the
needy in person, or we make a financial donation to a charity that is there to
help them, we are fulfilling God’s desire for us to help those most in need in
our society.
Further, in this season of penance, it can be easy to
give up certain things that we love, like chocolate or dessert. But let’s also
remember that we are all made in the image of God, and we need to be able to
see God in those people that are in our lives. When we do see Jesus in others,
we are mindful of what he says in today’s Gospel: while he is in our midst we have no reason to fast if not to tenderly care for and love one another.
Let us remember that our fasting, penance, and
almsgiving can be sources of healing for others. Then we will be living out
this Lent in a way pleasing to Jesus.
Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteI don't think fasting is an end in itself, aside from potential health & weight loss benefits.
Fasting is an effective tool in intercessory prayer & in deliverance from evil spirits/spiritual warfare, accompanied by prayer. (In one GOSPEL account of Our LORD JESUS driving out a demon from a young boy when his disciples failed, when His disciples asked Him why He was able to drive out the demon His response was that some are only driven out by prayer & fasting--another version of the same incident only mentions prayer.)
It has been suggested that fasting is supposed to increase our desire for GOD & help bring us into deeper prayer. Although I have not engaged in serious fasting beyond following the Church regulations & giving up sweets, so I don't have the experience of a deeper desire for GOD, I do think that at the times when we crave something & are tempted to give in to eating that food or watching that movie or TV program, we can use that as an opportunity to pray instead.
One of the most productive uses of fasting is linking it to almsgiving. The money we save during LENT from refraining from purchasing the cake, ice cream, candy, alcoholic beverage, Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts coffee beverage, restaurant meal, movie, impulse shopping item, or whatever we sacrificed (whether we committed to a specific sacrifice throughout LENT or chose our sacrifices "one day at a time") can accumulate & by the end of LENT we can contribute that money to our parishes, to Catholic missions, to a pro-life ministry, a poor family, a food bank or to whatever charity helps people in need & furthers the Kingdom of GOD. In this way we can use our fasting to accomplish the purposes the LORD recommends in Isaiah 58.