GOSPEL POWER | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Gospel: MT 9: 14-15

Then the disciples of John came to Jesus, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

REFLECTION

We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as part of the yearly memorial of the historical taking away of the bridegroom. Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of this annual Lenten commemoration. Good Friday is a high point, as it marks the self-sacrificial death by which the bridegroom was physically torn apart from us. Losing the bridegroom is a cause for mourning. But doesn’t sin, in a very real sense, bring about the same effect in the life of the sinner? Fasting from sin is the best penance we can observe, and not only during the Lenten Season, but all throughout the year. And if we have the bridegroom always with us, then our life becomes an ongoing celebration.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, may the hunger we experience as we fast from food on designated days make us aware of the deeper hunger of the human spirit to be united with you. Amen.