(Homily for March 3, 2017).
When we talk of fasting, our minds
immediately go to food because food is seen as something the body craves for
but the truth is that fasting goes way deeper than not eating. We may decide
not to eat yet our minds are occupied by hatred, envy, jealousy, anger,
bitterness, the desire to hurt, to fight and kill. As such, fasting instead of
being a stepping stone to interior conversion because a tool in the hand of the
devil to further gravitate us to evil. Such fasting is useless not only to us
but even to God.
The shocking truth about fasting is
that God does not need it. God is not some sadist who is only happy when he
sees his children carrying long faces or hungry or down. Fasting is not a
condition for prayers to be answered neither does it force God to answer our
prayer quicker as some people think. Fasting is not bribe! In our Gospel
passage this morning, we get to see that Jesus did not allow his own disciples
to fast and when he was accused of not been as holy as the Pharisees, he simply
told them it was forbidden for the guests to fast when the bridegroom is still
with them. Meaning, that in the presence of God, there is no need to fast.
So, why do we fast? We fast so that we
can offer to God our hearts. What God needs is not the fasting itself but the
fruit of the fasting. God is not so interested in our physical deprivation but
in our interior conversion. This is to say, fasting is something we do for God
but for ourselves.
Fasting may be likened to taking one’s
bath so that one can appear clean before others. It is not the shower that people
want to see but the result of that shower. God does not need our fasting but
our hearts made clean and disciplined. God does not want to see our gloomy faces,
rather he wants to see our hearts free from the corruption of misplaced values.
For instance, if our self-deprivation forces us to meditate and frees our heart
from the worship of money, then we have done well. If our refusal to watch
television frees our heart from pornography, then we have done well. If our
refusal to drink alcohol or go to a club frees our heart from temptations to
sin, then we have done well. If our refusal to waste food frees our heart from gluttony
and opens us the plight of the needy around us, then we have done well.
That being the case, the best fasting
is FORGIVENESS. Yes, the ability to forgive which is to fast from revenge at
all costs is the quickest means of cleansing our hearts from evil. If you can
truly let go, you are asking satan to depart from your heart with all his
wicked suggestions. As our first reading from the book of Isaiah points out, depriving
oneself of food is not truly fasting. It should be the least thing we do. The
following are more important fasting:
1. To loose the bonds of wickedness
2. To let the oppressed go free
3. To Share your bread with the
hungry
4. To bring the homeless poor into
your house
5. To clothe the naked.
When you look at Isaiah’s list
carefully, you would immediately notice these are essentially the corporal
works of mercy and as Isaiah says, these are the very things that would
guarantee our prayers being answered. “Then you shall call, and the Lord will
answer; you shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am.” These corporal works of
mercy are so powerful because they help to cleanse our hearts from impurities
and they make us act just as the Angels in heaven who are constantly in the
presence of God.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, help me to fast properly and not simply go on hunger strike.
Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday after Ash Wednesday. Bible Study: Isaiah 58:1-9 and Matthew 9:14-15).
Fr. Abu.
No comments:
Post a Comment