GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 3RD MARCH 2017
FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
FIRST READING: Isaiah 58:1-9
PSALM: Psalm 51:3-6, 18-19
GOSPEL: Matthew 9:14-15
THEME: A TIME TO FAST
A fast can be defined as a voluntary decision to forgo some amount of food (and/or drink) for a period of time. There are various reasons – secular and religious – why people fast. For example, some fast periodically for health reasons. Others too are of the view that periodic fasting makes them mentally alert and more intuitive.
Fasting, however, takes on a spiritual dimension when it goes hand in hand with prayer. It becomes an expression of a deep hunger for the things of God – deep enough to make one ‘lose taste’ for earthly delicacy. It is oriented towards making one humble before God and to rely on the power of God.
In our First Reading the Lord gives a little caution when we embark on the spiritual exercise of fasting, especially during communal fasting as we have it in this season of Lent – “Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high” (Isa. 58:3-4). Fasting becomes a mere ‘hunger strike’ when we do all kinds of wrong things on our fast days. It is empty and yields no spiritual fruit.
Fasting and prayer are two legs of a spiritual tripod stand. There is a third leg that makes the stand complete and our supplication effective, namely, almsgiving. Hence we read, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am” (Isa. 58:6-9).
There are some Christians who have never fasted before. They argue that “surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them.” However, they forget that the next sentence after that saying of Jesus is “…but the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
We all cannot fast the same way, but we all can fast as the Spirit directs. Let us ask God for grace during this time of lent to mortify ourselves through fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
PRAYER: Lord God, your Word has taught me that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from you. As I hunger and thirst for righteousness, may I be filled with your divine power. Amen
Andrews Obeng, SVD
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen)