Friday after Ash Wednesday
(Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15)
Remember when our mothers told us to eat our food because
there were children in China going hungry? Comedians make fun of the logic, but there is a
connection between the two. It parallels
the reasoning behind the lesson about fasting in the first reading today.
Isaiah chastises the people for fasting while ignoring the
needy. Fasting – experiencing
voluntary hunger -- should make us conscious of God’s command to feed those
without food. Our mothers admonished
us with a similar end in mind. They
wanted us to show gratitude to God for the food He has provided by eating it.
Food is a good although we sometimes distort its value by
eating too much. In any case food is
not the greatest good. God
is. To recognize God as such we
fast during Lent. Because
God commands us to do so, it would a travesty for us to fast from food and not
assist the hungry.
