Homilies

February 8, 2008
Friday After Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:1-9; Matthew 9:14-15
Fr. Francis Steger, OCSO

"Why do we fast, and you do not see it?" How often do we ask ourselves this same question - at least implicitly? We may not be fasting in the ordinary sense of the word, but we are trying to do God's will-and nothing happens. Something does happen. It may not be what we expect or desire to happen, but God does listen, and He responds to our sincere requests if these requests are pleasing to Him.

Isaiah gives us an answer to our question: "Lo, on your fast days you carry out your own pursuits." That is not what God is looking for as Isaiah tells us: "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? 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." In other words, when we see someone in need and come to his help, we are fasting in the way that pleases the Lord.

Certainly, as the Church will be reminding us throughout the liturgy of Lent, God does want us to practice mortification in the use of food, but even more does He want us to mortify our selfishness. Jesus died in order that we may live, and He desires that we walk in His footsteps. Our Calvary will most likely not be in Palestine but right where we are. We walk in the footsteps of Jesus by doing our Father's will with all the generosity that we possess at any given time. What will be the result of our dying to self in order to live for Jesus both in His personal Being and in His presence in our brothers and sisters? "Then your light shall break forth like the 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!"

In the Gospel Jesus responds to the question: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus' answer prepares us for what will take place during the Great Week: "The days will come when the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." When Jesus seems to be absent, it is then that He is most present. We are co-workers with Jesus in His great work of redemption. That means that we walk in His footsteps all the way to Calvary. It is by doing this that we will share in His resurrection. Death to self is temporal. True life in and with God is eternal. The prophet Amos helps us to be truly men and women filled with the Spirit of wisdom: "Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you."