The Fasting That I Wish

The Fasting That I Wish

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Piety

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!  Isaiah 58:6-9A

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." Matthew 9:14-15

Study

The late Fr. Thomas Keating, in one of his recorded Centering Prayer workshop lectures, cried out that prayer leads us and demands us to “change the direction in which we are looking for happiness.”  Typical Hebrew fasting is a sign of mourning, not a sign of change. Acting out our collective unhappiness is different from acting out service that contributes to collective happiness. Isaiah and Jesus are telling us to change the object to which we direct our fasting.

Fasting is not genuine without redirecting the direction in which we seek happiness.  Isaiah underlines the agenda which will become the Nazareth Manifesto when Jesus rolls out his platform in the temple.  We need to live a true social morality in order to ensure Gospel “prosperity.” Sabbath economics is not about bringing the Prosperity Gospel to our life but it is about bringing God grace and grandeur to others.

Jesus takes Isaiah’s manifesto even further.  He declares that old-fashioned fasting is also inappropriate during a time of joy (like while Jesus is still with the disciples proclaiming and building the kingdom of God). Fasting does have a role in our spiritual life but not a marriage feast. Yet the Good News foretells the time when Jesus, no longer be with the disciples visibly, is the proper object for personal fasting. 

Action

If everything has a time and place, how can you use Lent to focus your fasting on the kind of sacrifice that really matters to Jesus and to the community of neighbors around us?

What role does volunteerism play in your Lent?

What role does charitable giving giver play in your Lent?

How does reliance on social media get in the way of being social to the society around you?

Isaiah and Jesus encourage us to view fasting differently.  What can you do differently?