Friday after Ash Wednesday
(Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15)
Needless to say, today’s readings involve fasting. The first calls into question the fasting of
Israel in the sixth century before Christ.
The gospel questions the purpose of fasting with the supreme call to joy
present.
Fasting is an outward sign of an interior disposition of
humility. It indicates one’s willingness
to do God’s will and not one’s own. Trito-Isaiah
chastises the nation of Israel for putting on a show as if they intended to keep
God’s commandments. In reality, however,
they mean “business as usual” with just lip service to justice as God commands.
We say Lent is a forty-day fast. In most years, however, there are only
thirty-eight or thirty-nine days of fasting.
The difference is accounted to a suspension of fasting on March 19, the Solemnity
of St. Joseph, and March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Both days call for celebration, not signs of humility. Besides Sundays, on the other days of Lent we
should not only fast but make up for the times in which we have not rendered
full justice to God or neighbor.
