Word to the Wise
Friday, February 27, 2009 - Friday after Ash Wednesday
[Isaiah 58:1-9A and Matthew 9:14-15]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.
"Fasting and abstinence" are observances familiar to Catholics, even if the two are occasionally confused with one another. Fasting means two small meals that don't equal the third main meal. (Of course some will try to make that third one a BIG one so the other two can be correspondingly larger - which is why Isaiah is so angry!) Abstinence means we don't eat meat on that day. In most dioceses in the USA, there are only two "Fast Days": Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Every Friday in Lent is a day of abstinence. These rules usually apply only to folks between 18 and 60 years of age. "Once upon a time" Catholics observed abstinence every Friday of the year! They can still do so, but for some reason many find it meaningless if they don't HAVE TO DO IT! That makes abstinence more a matter of obedience than an observance of the Lord's Passion! These comments are meant to highlight what Isaiah (and Jeremiah and Zechariah) have to say about fasting! They found it to be an external observance without a correspondingly interior reform! Jesus had some pungent remarks about fasting as observed by the Phariseesin yesterday's gospel! Isaiah proposes a different form of "fasting." One might call this "Fasting in Action." Some folks do fast in Lent and give the value of the meal to an agency that will use it for situations like those Isaiah mentions. That is a worthy thing to do. Some "get involved" and work directly to help those whom Isaiah mentions. I think Isaiah would approve of that kind of fasting even more! Much of what Isaiah says seems to appear in the judgment scene in Matthew 25:30-45. If we are making the decision to fast for Lent, we might want to listen first to Isaiah and Jesus and shape our fast accordingly! AMEN
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