Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday after Ash Wednesday, Year B, February 19th, 2021
Texts: Is.58:1-9; Ps. 51:3-6.18-19; Mtt. 9:14-15
Fasting must be sincere for it to be efficacious. That is the point made in today's first reading. Fasting is sincere when its driven force is true. Fasting is driven by the desire to do the will of God by subjecting the passions and desires of the flesh under control. Passions and desires of the flesh have always been barriers for doing the will of God. Hence, St. Paul says, "All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified flesh with all its passions and its desires" (Gal. 5:24). The battle against the passions and desires of the flesh has been the battle that many great men and women failed to win; they were conquered by their passions and desires. Fasting is a means of putting passions and desires under control so as to be able to do the will of God.
Fasting becomes insincere and a failure when passions and desires still raise their ugly heads in the life of the one who fasts. Such fasting is just from food without bearing fruits; it does not help in doing the will of God. It is the kind of fasting that is condemned in the reading today. The people complained thus: "Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?" God answered thus: "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. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?"
The kind of fasting the Lord requires from us is a sincere and fruitful one. The Lord desires a kind of fast that breeds righteousness. Fasting is a period we are sorry for our misdeeds and resolved to do good; it is a period we take the battle against the flesh head on and fix our minds on doing the will of God. Fasting is a kind of training in righteousness. Fast that goes with good deeds wins God's favour and blessings. God says, "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.” we are reminded, today, that our fast should not be from food only but also go with the works of mercy.
Today's gospel reading reminds us that there is time for fasting, for Jesus says, "The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." These are days there is a need to seek the face of God, the days there is a need to do penance for sins, the days there is a need to return to God, the days there is a need to beseech the mercy of God, the days there is a need to focus on God, the days there is a need to humble ourselves before God, the days there is a need for the works of mercy, the days there is a need of training in righteousness, the days there is a need to put God over and above every other things. These are not the days to quarrel, not the days to celebrate, not days for evil, not the days to engage in useless talk, not the days to indulge.
Show gracious favour, O Lord, we pray, to the works of penance we have begun, that we may have strength to accomplish with sincerity the bodily observances we undertake. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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