Consideration
“Rend your hearts,” was the message on Ash Wednesday. Isaiah also takes fasting very seriously. Fasting has nothing to do with outward signs: “Is that fasting, says the Lord?” Then comes an avalanche of what fasting really means. It is not easy to get away with it. The liturgy links all this to the short Gospel in which Jesus (the bridegroom) exempts his apostles from fasting as long as he is among them.
FIRST READING Isaiah 58, 1-9a
Is this the fast that pleases Me?
From the prophet Isaiah
Thus says the Lord God:
“Cry aloud, do not hold back,
let your voice be heard like a trumpet;
and reveal to My people their transgressions,
the house of Jacob their sins.
“Surely they consult Me daily,
they strive to know My will,
as if they were a people who practise righteousness
and do not despise the law of their God.
“They ask Me for righteous judgements,
they long for the presence of their God.
“We fast, why do You not see it?
“We humble ourselves, why do You not take notice?
“See, while you fast, you seek your own gain
and exploit your labourers.
“It is with strife and contention that you fast,
and you strike with your fist in anger.
“If you fast like this,
your prayer will not be heard in heaven.
“Is this the kind of fast that pleases Me,
the day when a person must humble himself:
hanging his head like a reed,
lying down on sackcloth and ashes?
“Do you call that fasting,
do you call that a day pleasing to the Lord?
“The fast that I desire is this:
to break the chains of sin, to break the yoke of oppression,
to set the oppressed free, to smash every yoke,
to share your bread with the hungry,
to take the homeless wanderers into your house,
clothe the naked whom you see,
and do not turn away from your own flesh.
“Then your light will shine like the dawn,
your healing will be swift;
your righteousness will go before you,
the glory of the Lord will follow you.
“Then, when you pray to the Lord, He will hear you,
when you call to Him, He will answer: Here I am!”
Thus says the almighty Lord.
INTERLUDIUM Ps . 51(50), 3-4, 5-6a, 18-19
What I offer, God, is my repentance,
a broken and humbled heart you will not reject.
God, have mercy on me in your kindness,
wash away my sinfulness in your compassion.
Wash away my guilt completely,
cleanse me of all my sins.
I acknowledge that I have done wrong,
my transgression is ever before me.
Against You alone have I sinned,
I have done what is evil in Your sight.
You do not delight in sacrifices,
whatever I offer You, You do not want.
What I offer, God, is my repentance,
You do not reject a broken and humbled heart.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Ps. 130(129), 5 and 7
I place my hope in the Lord,
I trust in his word;
for the Lord is always merciful,
his mercy is boundless.
GOSPEL Mt. 9, 14-15
When the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
One day
the disciples of John came to Jesus with the question:
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not?”
Jesus said to them:
“The friends of the bridegroom
cannot be sad
as long as the bridegroom is with them.
“The days will come
when the bridegroom is taken away from them;
then they will fast.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home
34. We are probably disturbed when we become aware of the extinction of a mammal or a bird because of their greater visibility. But for ecosystems to function properly, mushrooms, algae, worms, small insects, reptiles and the countless variety of micro-organisms are also necessary. A few species, which usually go unnoticed, play a fundamental critical role in stabilising the balance of a specific place. Humans must intervene when a geosystem reaches a critical stage, but nowadays the level of human intervention in a reality as complex as nature is such that the disasters constantly caused by humans necessitate further intervention, making human activity omnipresent with all the risks that entails.
This creates a vicious circle in which human intervention to solve a problem often ends up making the situation even worse. Many birds and insects that are dying out due to the toxic pesticides created by technology are to solve a problem often ends up making the situation even worse. For example, many birds and insects that are becoming extinct due to the toxic pesticides created by technology are useful to agriculture itself, and their disappearance will have to be compensated for with yet another technological intervention, which is likely to have new harmful effects. The efforts of scholars and technicians who try to solve man-made problems are commendable and sometimes admirable. But when we look at the world, we notice that this level of human intervention, often in the service of money and consumerism, in reality causes the earth on which we live to become less rich and beautiful, increasingly limited and grey, while at the same time the development of technology and the range of consumer goods continues to grow without limit. It seems that we are convincing ourselves that we can replace an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with another, one that we have created ourselves.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this publication is taken from The New Bible Translation,
© Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays.
Laudato Si Official English translation