Friday after Ash Wednesday
16th February 2024 (Friday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a
Thus says the Lord God: “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose 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? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 (R. 19bc)
R/. A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Verse Before The Gospel
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel : Matthew 9:14-15
At that time: The disciples of John came to Jesus, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to 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.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Piety to duty!
Guidelines: The practice of religious activities like prayers and fasting is very good and needed. But we must check and see whether they remain limited only to the domain of religion and piety or do they lead to a change of daily life
1. Very often the religion of many is limited only to some religious practices. Their devotion is confined mainly to some pious prayers or proclamations. What they believe is not shown in how they live. What they profess is not lived in what they practice.
2. What they proclaim is not testified in their real life. It is like the wedding guests who celebrate the feast but ignore the bridegroom who is the cause and centre of their celebration. Or it is like mourning at a wedding.
3. Similarly, all our religious practices and activities will become empty and meaningless if they fail to take us closer to God and to others. Just as the whole wedding moments are directed toward and centred around the bridegroom, so also all the religious practices are oriented toward the Lord. They must take us into intimacy with him, to enjoy his presence, to celebrate life with him.
4. The fault of the Israel people was this: they followed a dry and shallow religion. Their daily schedule was filled with bundles of practices but their hearts were empty of any real spirit of faith. They prayed, fasted, and gave alms.
5. But they were estranged from God. They were self-blown and self-filling. They were indifferent and unconcerned toward others. They lacked humility, charity, and fidelity. They were self-righteous and complacent
6. They were insensitive, ununderstanding, and unsympathetic. They were despising and offensive. They always rated themselves far above the other ordinary mortals. They were demanding and exacting toward people. But toward their own selves, they were lenient and self-indulgent.
7. Further, the greatest deficiency in any religion is a lack of charity toward others. It is a failure to loosen the bonds of wickedness, and undo the straps of the yoke of injustice and oppression.
8. It is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked. The right type of fasting (in fact all the religious observances) is to humble oneself, not to seek our own pleasure, not to quarrel and fight and hit.
Practice:There is an eager tendency in the present times either to do away with all the traditional practices like fasting, or not to connect them to real-life renewal
