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. – Isaiah 58:6

         It’s been a while since I fasted from food during Lent. Yes, I abstain from meat and fast on the Fridays of Lent, but for the entire season, I deprive myself of other things. Like last Lent, I fasted from anger.

         I think I should have just fasted from dessert. (Eeek.)

         Or from chocolates. (Double eeek.)

         Or breathing. (Gasp.)

       Because all that was much easier than depriving myself of getting angry.

      I realized that anger was my default emotion to almost anything. Especially when it came to my kids.

         They take forever to get up in the morning. I’m angry. They don’t do their homework. I’m angry. They’re noisy. I’m angry.

         I admit I failed on my fast almost every day. But after 40 days, I think I can safely say I’m not so angry anymore.

         It’s also a fast I intend to keep not just during the season of Lent but every day of every year. Rissa Singson Kawpeng (justbreatherissa@gmail.com)

Reflection:“Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.” (Benjamin Franklin)

Holy Spirit, help me to bear fruit in patience, kindness and love.

St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us.

There is a cry for social justice in the world. Sadly, those who are in the position to eliminate inequalities and injustices are deaf to it. Justice demands that our social structure and institutions protect and uphold human rights.

1 Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; they ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. 3 “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. 4 Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! 5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 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; 7 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. 8 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. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am!

R: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 3 [5] For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always: 4 [6] “Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” (R) 16 [18] For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. 17 [19] My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. (R)

 Jesus enjoins us to set our priorities straight. We know what is right and we must do it. However, doing the right thing can be a disadvantage in our competitive world. We should constantly ask ourselves: What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself? (Luke 9:25)

Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you.

14 The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 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.”

think: What kind of fasting are you offering Jesus this Lent?

Read the Bible in one year James 1-5

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

AN ACCEPTABLE FAST

This very short Gospel deals with fasting, one of the three pillars of Jewish piety and of our Lenten exercises.

       Fasting is practiced in all major religions. But what does fasting mean? It might come as a shock to many when I say that fasting is not just abstaining from food.

       The prophet Isaiah (see First Reading) speaks about an “acceptable fast.” He rebukes the nation of Israel for their fasting and gives them an exhortation. He does not say anything about abstaining from food.

       This passage in today’s First Reading indicates that the “acceptable fast” is not merely abstinence from food or water, but a decision to fully obey God’s commands to care for the poor and oppressed. Since this is a point many are not aware of, let us read once more these verses and ask ourselves how we could offer the Lord an “acceptable fast.”

       “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

       Last year, we celebrated the Jubilee of Mercy. Pope Francis wrote about and explained what mercy is in his homilies and speeches. Mercy, he made it clear, is not just a sentimental feeling, not something we do out of pity. Mercy is reaching out to the poor, the marginalized and let them feel that God cares for them. These actions are what Isaiah calls the “acceptable fast.”

      Fasting, therefore, is not just abstaining from something, but doing something positive for those who are in need and who suffer oppression and injustice. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

How can you practice Isaiah’s “acceptable fast” for the rest of Lent and beyond?

Lord, it would be easier to abstain from food than do what You are asking me to do today. But looking at You and trying to imitate You, I will be able to do it. Please help me with Your grace. Amen.