Word to the Wise
Friday, February 19, 2010 - 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...... [Isaiah]
Catholics are truly obliged to fast only twice a year: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and it applies only to those who are between the ages of 18 and 60! Even among the Jews of Jesus' day (on up to our own times), the requirement of the law applied only to the celebration of Yom Kippur. Islam has a far greater requirement in the month of Ramadan, at least in terms of the hours required. It seems to me that the issue has to do with a fundamentally personal choice to forego something (usually food) as a sign of concern for a greater cause: hunger in the world, political oppression, spiritual asceticism/purification. Isaiah takes aim at those who fast because they want to attract attention, either from God or the people! Such fasting is empty and useless. He proposes instead another asceticism that he analogously calls "fasting." If the list seems familiar, one might go the Gospel of Matthew, 25:31-45 (the "Final Judgment scene"). It is often proposed that if we choose to "fast" during Lent, we should donate the value of the food we forego to something like the "Rice Bowl" charity or other organization connected with world hunger, such as Oxfam. This is a worthwhile thing to do and it calls attention to the issue of motivation. Fasting simply because it is Lent or prescribed by church law (even if only two days out of the whole year!) robs the practice of its meaning. Reading Isaiah before we fast might help us give some meaning to the practice and consider it as "not just for Lent!" AMEN
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