Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the
bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away
from them, and then, they will fast.”
Reflect
“Why do we fast?” Do we fast merely to discipline our bodies or also to help us grow from
our faintheartedness? We can fast to simply show off. We can also fast in order to feel good,
satisfying our pietistic appetite. Isaiah, in the first reading, proclaimed that the kind of fasting
pleasing to the Lord is the one that breaks the fetters of injustice and sets the oppressed free.
It is also the fasting that shares food with the hungry, shares house with the homeless and
clothes the naked. (cf. Isa. 58:7) Thus, we fast that we may take risks for social justice and
lift up the quality of life. We fast neither to satisfy our ego through mortification nor to feel
good about ourselves because of our frugal practices. We fast to strengthen our hearts that
we may become committed Christians. In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains that his disciples
would fast only after he has gone. Jesus has to offer himself first so that his followers would
have an example to emulate. Jesus fasted before his ministry, which eventually led to
his supreme act of self-giving.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2024